MUMBAI, July 23: The first batch of BCom students to graduate this year with Computers as their vocational course subject from Jai Hind College are bitter with the way they were taught this newly introduced topic from the vocational stream.Some of the concerned students who recently spoke to Express Newsline alleged they had not received sufficient practical job-oriented training in the last three years they spent studying the topic at degree level.``I opted for Computers in FYBCom at Jai Hind when this vocational course was newly introduced by the university grants commission. However, though the college painted a rosy picture about the subject, I along with most of my friends had to suffer due to inadequate notes, incompetent teachers, barely any practical work and postponed examinations,'' said one of the students, Sailesh Ghelani.He added that whatever little he managed to learn from the course was out-dated and valueless, especially with regard to job qualification.However, the college authorities have said the situation was not bad. The Principal of Jai Hind College, N W Shivdasani, told this newspaper on Wednesday: ``Though there were a few teething problems since this course was introduced, our facilities are excellent and the current lot of students are happy with them.''Shivdasani added he was always open to students' suggestions and he actually sacked a teacher as the students had complained she was not well-versed with the subject.But while the students do appreciate the college for this and for upgrading some old computer machines, they still feel the computer training could have been conducted in a better manner.``I have spent three years studying the basics about computers, but I still feel I haven't learnt much,'' commented another Jai Hind graduate Krupa Mehta. Another student complained that barely two months before their final TYBCom exams, the syllabus was altered. ``I think the attitude of the college and UGC is that the first batch will always have problems. This is unfair,'' she said, adding they were taught scientific terms like `telephone trunk lines' and `wave forms,' meant for engineers and not for vocational training. However, the college's vice-principal, Dr Vispi Balaporia, reasoned: ``If students have problems with the syllabus, the college cannot be blamed. This can be solved by consulting UGC. We could not start the vocational course till as late as September as we had to look for a visiting faculty to teach. Even other reputed colleges in the city were having problems finding a visiting faculty.''Dr Balaporia, who is also a member of the Management Council, Mumbai University, further said the first batch has fared reasonably well in the exams, and their juniors are keen on opting for computers though there are only 30 seats.
