Times News Network

Bangalore, May 6: Of the 822 resumes that an IT major received from engineering students, only six were selected. The rest were rejected not because of their lack of technical skills, but because they were found wanting in English.

Shocked by the engineering students' poor English communication skills, the Board for IT Education Standards (BITES) has recommended to the Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) that English be introduced as a noncredit subject in all the 121 engineering colleges.

"Though a few institutions have introduced soft skills, including personality development, as an add-on course to prepare the students for the corporate world, a large number of students find it difficult to make it in the interview because of poor communication skills," K V Prahlad Rao, director and IT advisor at BITES, told TOI.

Currently, the 50-hour functional English taught for first- and second-semester students is restricted to prepositions, spelling, letter writing, idioms, phrases and grammar.

Ironically, the VTU introduced the functional English course to better the chances of students. Now, BITES has recommended that students be exposed to interviewing skills and showcasing knowledge verbally.

"Brilliant students are rejected because of their poor communication. It may be difficult for VTU to find faculty to teach English, (but) colleges must view this seriously and arrest the disturbing trend," Rao said.

When BITES asked IT major Oracle for a feedback on the performance of students who took part in the recruitment, the reply it got was shocking: poor performance in aptitude and logical reasoning; average performance in technical skills.