A Letter to the Government, the Colleges, and the Students — From a Student Who Chose to Speak Up

I have been silent for a while, but today I choose to question the system. This is my perspective — it doesn't need to be true for everyone. This is what I have faced in my situation.

1. The GDP Problem & The Employment Crisis

GDP is the main factor countries use to compare development. It depends on the service sector, agriculture, and industrial output — I learned this in my Class 10 CBSE lessons. In order to increase GDP, our Finance Minister has been increasing taxes, because with more taxes the government gets more money to spend on infrastructure and people. But that is not the only effective solution, because the core problem still exists.

The employment rate is decreasing, and the government is not answering that question in a way that leads to an actual solution. The question that naturally arises is: how can the government generate employment when the youngsters applying for jobs are not skilled enough for what companies actually need? This leads us directly to the core problem — the Indian educational system.

2. The Broken Education System — Colleges AND Students

Students are not actually learning skills. They are forced to memorize code by heart. They are not as productive as companies need them to be. The most crucial part of any country is the education of its youngsters, because they are the ones who will truly change the world. So where does the real problem lie? Both colleges and students share responsibility.

The College Problem: Colleges are meant to be places where students receive guidance. Instead, we are forced to participate in labs that are not even necessary for our future jobs. Do we really require carpentry? Chemistry labs? Physics experiments? Let's say they are for 'general knowledge' — but even then, we are not actually learning. Faculty members explain things in a way where we don't understand how anything truly works. They just say 'if you do this, this happens' — and that's it.

Real understanding takes time. Great scientists had the freedom to explore their labs whenever they wanted. But here, we are not even allowed inside the lab outside of scheduled hours. How can a curious student learn under these restrictions? And then there are the unnecessary first-year subjects that waste an entire year of the curriculum. At the end, they try to teach us everything in a hurry, and we all end up running toward the same train that we don't even have the qualifications to board.

This is exactly why institutions like NXT Wave and other modern colleges have risen — they fill the gap. But if local colleges improved their systems, everyone would get quality education, not just people who can afford premium institutions.

The Student Problem: The mindset is a major issue. Most people come to college to enjoy. Some study by memorizing for exams. But you cannot learn swimming by watching tutorials — it needs practical effort. Even though students have laptops, they lose focus because someone says 'try this trending thing' and 'try that trending thing.' Nobody asks: what makes YOU curious?

And at the end, everyone blames the college management instead of accepting their own mistakes. 'I wasted my time, not them. It is MY life. All the responsibilities are mine. I have to sail it, not the college.' A security guard at Zoho became an employee at that same company. What does that tell you? When a person is truly interested in something, they don't complain about anything else. That determination separates them from others.

The mistake is from both sides. But if the college rules change, the change in students will follow.

3. The AI Dependency Crisis

This miscommunication between students and college management has become the core reason for the growing dependency on AI tools instead of thinking independently. When labs are conducted, the instructor gives bulk code that students don't even understand. So people use AI tools not to learn, but to escape the lab. That shortcut will cost them dearly in interviews.

Using AI to learn is far better than depending on it for all your work. It makes us lazy rather than productive. We copy and paste without understanding the code. Even MIT researchers have warned that this kind of dependency can make the brain less sharp than usual.

4. The Devaluation of Education

The real problem connecting all of this is the loss of value of education itself. Engineering is the best path for those trying to create market impact. But seeing lakhs of people left unemployed creates fear in everyone's mind — 'Is engineering even good anymore?'

The problem is with the students too, not just the branch. Students enjoy their college time, learn nothing, and then blame the college and the branch. If companies have 100 seats and there are 200 skilled workers, the company will open a new branch — they won't just leave people behind. When companies stop creating new jobs, it means the market is flooded with people whose skills are not valuable enough. But there is a catch: people can upgrade their abilities and get selected elsewhere. The only difference is mindset.

5. The Gaming Addiction

The biggest problem with teenagers today is that they are addicted to video games far beyond any healthy limit. They waste their time gaming instead of reading books or learning something new. We must guide them on what is productive and what is destructive. These habits continue into college, and they stop learning new skills entirely. I have seen many people like this in my own college. Even I am writing this piece in my free time — instead of wasting it, I have shifted that time into something meaningful.

6. The 'Watch Ads for Money' Trap

People are blindly installing apps that promise money for watching ads. But that money is incredibly small. What they don't realize is that it's wasting their time, and time is far more valuable than money. Without that realization, people will keep following whatever apps others suggest, losing their consciousness to think critically.

7. The Parenting Gap

A major problem comes from parents too. Many don't even know their children's real interests. They force them into MPC or BiPC streams, and even in engineering, they try to grab a seat in CSE or the 'top' branches — but not the one where their child actually wants to learn and build curiosity. This comes down to miscommunication between parents and children. It's not the fault of parents — they genuinely try to give their kids the best career. But if they simply asked their children what they want, it could be life-changing.

8. Why Most Indian AI Tools Fail

It's not only because they aren't as good as the best models — they also lack awareness among people. Models like ChatGPT and Perplexity are well known and people are habituated to them. But new Indian AI models don't have familiarity with the Indian public. People question themselves: 'Why should I try the new one?' To succeed, Indian AI products need to differentiate themselves clearly so users can see the value. Once people are habituated to a tool, they only switch when they see a clear difference.

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This entire piece was written by me — a student, not a journalist, not a politician, not a professor. Just someone who chose to speak up instead of staying silent.