For a while, I have thought about writing on this however it was recently sprouted some few days ago after reading an article written by Dheeraj Sanghi (a director of Punjab Engineering College (PEC), Chandigarh) on his blog which was posted on Thewire.in, an Indian online news. I will share some of the points from his article in relation to “TOWN and GOWN” as a topic of discuss.

While his article focused more on engineering as his area of practice, mine is more global. The term “Town and Gown” is often heard at colleges, Universities or Polytechnics during their convocation or induction as the case may be. The “Gown” refers to the academia (which includes the academic and partly non-academic staffs particularly the administrator and of course students). The "Town" refers to the general populace that are not part of the academic community in attendance (which includes the industry, employers, government officials amongst others). Together, they are in the auditorium or hall welcomed by the electrifying speech from the Vice Chancellor, Provost or Rector all in a bid to celebrate the students. The best graduating and other distinction students are rewarded for their efforts.

But hey! What happens after leaving the auditorium that day? When does our town and gown have the opportunity to interact again? Perhaps the direction of article still seems clouded and diffused but to peg down what is ahead, these are all necessary. From Dheeraj’s blog post, the following are plagiarized in relation to this article.

“To just pick a skill, programming as an example, the problem is not that our graduates do not know the latest programming language (the one which is more heavily used), but that our graduates do not know any programming language.”

“So indeed, even the enlightened folks in the industry would agree that the problem is not lack of latest knowledge but lack of knowledge”

“When, we talk about our graduates, we keep talking about them being unemployed because they don’t learn the latest that the industry is using, that the curriculum is outdated, that we don’t get the industry folks to come and teach or tell the faculty what to teach”

The last quote above is my target point just in case the direction of this article is still covert. I have wondered if these challenges is also peculiar to India, then what will I say of my father’s land. Today and even before now, we have had a lot of graduates of which a number of them don’t even know where they’ll fit in the workspace or perhaps not enough job to absorb them. Well, some will assert that they can become entrepreneurs amongst others but whatever the case, a large percentage of people will survive by being employed.

Just like Dheeraj had noted, we have left the gown to do their thing and the town do theirs. When the students graduate, then a transfer window can be opened just like in football but this needs to change if we really want our graduates to fit properly into the society and particularly the workspace.

The town is where the students will survive, and they are aware and operate on latest ideals of their workspace. Therefore, if their impact is eschewed from the building of our students in institution with the latest trends and how they can be implemented into the curriculum to really ground them then most of our graduates will continue to go for extra skills before they can fit into work space. However, this cannot be realized without the gown willing and not letting over ego overcome them.

Also, the town should be invited particularly after the admission of new students. Each faculty,  department courses) or a coalition of two or three in to discuss prospects with their course of studies, opportunities available, skills that'll be needed and to develop amongst others. This is however in general not considering those who are studying devoid of interest. This can also help to create opportunities where they exists not from interacting with the students for future purposes.

More so, the gown have a lot to do than just ready the students for graduation. They should think for the town (government, investors, employers, industry…) about the various work space that can be created around a course of study. Are you aligning your thoughts with mine already? What are you thinking already? Of course to make the town look into this and invest, create an employable platform for the future graduates.

Some professional courses like Law, Medicine and so on might be quite lucky but have you ever thought of students who study Zoology, Botany, Agriculture, mass communication, mathematics, Geography, and the list goes on and on, where will they all work? And please save the academia form me, surely not all can fit into that space. The town then need to do regular check-in to update gown of the new trends and relevant things that should be included in the curriculum to prepare them for easy acceptance into the society’s work space.

I once remember a friend telling me they were asked to bring typewriters to class which is the usual practice. Well I am not against that but are they being taught also the new trends in accounting, excel and the likes? The answer is capital NO! Similarly, a man who works for a factory asked me if my brother could use a software, the administrative or finance department  of the factory had just been taught how to use it but he wouldn’t get the job if he cannot use it. How many institutions are also aware of this and will be willing to invite town to expose them to it? Perhaps, some private institutions are already living up to expectations but a large number of our public ones are still far away (behind) like kuvuki land in Mr Bones movie. A lot needs to be done and the time is now!

The TOWN and GOWN are separate entities that have things to do in common for the future of our students. The fiasco has created a scar already but the vacuum can still be filled. I hope this drives home to all the spheres concerned an important message that will reshape the educational sector and perhaps cut employment to a bearable minimum.
Until next time...

https://balogunidowu./2019/11/23/between-the-town-and-the-gown-the-disparity/

BALOGUN IDOWU ISMAHEEL
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