Career Prospects in Goa:
A Student's Perspective
By Pradnya P Shirodkar

Life in Goa moves at its own pace, determined by its inhabitants and rarely affected by the hustle-bustle of a developing city. It does seem fine to stay in a State, away from any major disturbances or riots associated with other states. But then challenges seem to be far away from accomplishment and the daily routine restricted to a kind of there-then-live kind of lifestyle.

FOR young blood Goa lacks the vision of lucrative dreams that happening cosmopolitan cities like Pune, Mumbai or Bangalore have to offer. Perhaps, it is the conditioning of the Goan mindset that most of the students agree to compromise their career choices for a not-so-bad job or course. Yet, there are many youngsters who believe strongly in their ambitions and are ready to achieve the impossible by getting out of the State. No wonder, proficient teenagers after 10+2 stage prefer to move out in search of better pastures elsewhere.

This is exactly how Goa poses a risk for itself by filtering out the individuals with educational finesse who could convert the image of Goa from an idyllic holiday spot to a techno-city. There must be thousands of young students out there who must be desiring to create a niche for themselves in their fields of interests. However, due to lack of facilities Goa fails to meet the needs of such minds, who dare to dream beyond the marked boundaries!

The colleges in Goa provide only a limited spectrum of courses and hence talented students have to settle for less than what they could have done with their immense potential. Some determined students do go out of the way to follow their hearts. But this solution is not affordable for the average middle-class student to study away from home by paying exorbitant fees for the course structure.

Let me exemplify this situation by citing an example. Many colleges in Goa offer Bachelors in Computer Science course and after completing it students can opt for studying further by doing a 3-year Masters in Computer Applications degree (M.C.A) from Goa University. The entrance is through an All-India level Competitive Examination held by NCST every year in January. The most important point to be noticed here is the availability of seats. Just 30!!! What an irony: around 7000+ students contending for 30 seats, that too only 24 in the General category, the rest remain reserved for SC/ST and non-Goans.

Of course, the best of the students get skimmed off to get a headstart. But what about the hundreds of Computer Science Graduates who have no other choice left. A State, which has B.Sc in Computer Science being taught in six to seven colleges, doesn't even have a M.Sc (Computer Science) to let students pursue their interests. Such a perplexing situation adds to the miseries of the freshers, who have to either change their career-track or try elsewhere for better prospects.

It's high time that the concerned authorities look into the matter and come up with an suitable solution. The lack of capital, infrastructure and teaching faculty cannot be taken as valid reasons. For, where there is a will, there is a way. Sooner or later Goa will have to make such advances in educational scenario if it has to remain at par with the other states in terms of improving the "quality of life". Youth are considered to be the foundation of tomorrow on which the future of a developing nation like India depends…Only well-educated, successful youth can turn out to be better citizens. Any comments?

The Author: Computer Science graduate from Goa's St Xavier’s College. I am more inclined towards creative writing and enjoy reading during leisure. She has written books on Indian Monuments and Flowers which are now ready for publishing.