The failure of the regular college syllabus has fuelled the growth of coaching centres, and those in Ameerpet are pushing Telangana towards materialising its dream of becoming a skill capital.
Published Oct 21, 2024 | 9:00 AM ⚊ Updated Oct 21, 2024 | 9:00 AM
Ameerpet is home to numerous IT coaching centres, drawing in crowds from across the country
“College to Corporate”, a signboard promised. The board — which also offered consultation and placement services — was one among many others that promised students a bright future in information technology.
The boards of several institutes arming students with essential skills to succeed in job markets have hidden the walls of the multi-storey building, pointing at the demand for the courses.
Starry-eyed students from across India form the clientele of these coaching centres jostling for space along with shops, eateries and travel agencies at the busy Ameerpet in Hyderabad.
Till a couple of decades ago, Ameerpet was a sleepy neighbourhood in northwest Hyderabad, where shrubs and creepers ran wild on umpteen vacant plots. The drawbacks of college syllabi in equipping students to meet the job market demands catapulted the area into a hub of skilling institutes. Today, coaching centres in Ameerpet of Hyderabad are fuelling the state’s journey to compete in the space of technology.
Today, Ameerpet holds an esteemed position in Telangana’s tech landscape, as was evident from IT Minister D Sridhar Babu’s validation at South First‘s Dakshin Dialogues, in Hyderabad.
Aditya Enclave, one of the largest complexes housing coaching centres in Ameerpet.
“It’s high time we stopped selling our dough to others. We should be able to make the dough, bake the bread, and sell it too,” Sridhar told the thought conclave on 5 October, while stressing the importance of capturing the local brainpower.
“We need to use the local grey matter to harness disruptive technologies,” he stated, adding that harnessing such technologies was key for development.
While Babu elucidated the need for collaboration with the Union government, he stressed the importance of a skilled workforce in achieving the city’s aspirations.
He highlighted the crucial role of a skilled workforce in Hyderabad’s pursuit of becoming an AI city. Despite a large pool of professionals, he emphasized the need to bridge the gap between academic curricula and industry requirements.
Initiatives like Ameerpet’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) coaching centres are stepping up to address this challenge, offering practical training and upskilling opportunities.
Coaching centres of Ameerpet in Hyderabad claim to upskill the “local grey matter”. Coaching centres like Naresh IT often have ties with companies across the nation either formally, or through alumni working there. They encourage their students to apply for jobs at these companies via referrals.
The students from coaching centres find employment across IT companies big and small in India. These centres proudly flaunt their alumni with reputed companies like Google, Amazon, Meta, and other giants. They are a rarity among most others who end up at start-ups or smaller, local companies.
Naresh IT is one such centre that began imparting training in AI about two years ago. “Our curriculum keeps growing as per the industry standard, equipping learners with the skills to pursue careers in data science and AI engineering,” its counsellor told South First.
The centre has employed several industry professionals as its faculty members. The counsellor revealed that graduates made up the bulk of its learner demographic.
“We have people in their final year of college, working professionals, and those who are taking this course after graduation,” he said.
Identifying a skill deficit in recent graduates, he noted, “The kind of questions the learners ask us often reveal that there is a huge gap between a college’s curriculum and the industry standard.”
“We are not a college, we don’t care about marks. Although our courses typically last about four months, we continue until the learner has enough practical understanding of the subject, even if we have to extend it by a couple of months. Perhaps, that’s why we are more effective,” he opined.
“Of late, there has been a spike in interest towards AI-related courses from working professionals. We’ve seen the demand increasing over the past couple of years, and it is likely to keep increasing,” he predicted.
Naresh IT provides a course in AI & Data Science which includes modules on Generative AI and ChatGPT. Conducting over 190 one-hour sessions across four months, it charges a student ₹21,000.
Having modules on Python, SQL, Mathematics, Statistics, and Machine Learning, it provides hands-on experience in Gemini AI and Azure ML.
Naresh IT is only one among the numerous coaching centres in Ameerpet offering AI courses.
Speaking to South First, students also spoke about how colleges fall short of producing competent professionals.
“They just teach you some basic algorithms, a lot of math, some programming, and call it quits,” Samyukth, an AI and Machine Learning undergrad student, explained.
“Whatever little AI they do teach gets outdated soon,” he opined.
Samyukth identified online courses as a competent and affordable alternative to make up for the college’s shortcomings.
Another student, who preferred to be identified only as R, has been pursuing AI and Machine Learning. He seconded Samyukth’s opinion.
“We don’t even begin AI until the third year,” he revealed. Additionally, he noted that colleges emphasised traditional subjects like chemistry and physics despite the chosen course.
Observing conditions across institutions, Samyukth said: “Most college curriculums trying to teach AI to limit themselves to the bare bones. They teach only some basic programming.”
Referring to his recent visits to the US and South Korea with Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, Minister Babu said industry leaders in those countries complained about an inadequately qualified workforce. He noted that Telangana could capitalise on the skill gap.
Telangana IT Minister speaking at Dakshin Dialogues 2024, South First’s thought conclave
“We aim to address this skill gap. Capitalising on this can make us the skill capital as well,” he said.
“We have over a million professionals and 2.5 lakh fresh graduates yearly. However, their colleges don’t make them job-ready,” he opined.
Identifying the coaching initiatives at Ameerpet as a prime example, he said: “Upskilling and reskilling the workforce is important.”
Babu announced that the recently launched Telangana Skill University would bridge the skill gap. Additionally, he also revealed that the upcoming AI city would have a dedicated AI School of Excellence to drive upskilling in the field.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
