Immediate suspension of cadet training must be implemented and concerted effort must be made both by the University and the D G Shipping to help the stranded cadets who require sea training to complete the course and get placement
- K R A Narasiah
- K R A Narasiah
Thanks to Dr. R. Lakshmipathy for expressing his opinion strongly about the cadets training programme in our country (Sagar Sandesh issue dated Dec 5, 2012). He is absolutely right in saying that there needs to be a ban for cadet training till the bulk of waiting cadets for sea time at least is cleared.
People responsible for training marine personnel must understand that unlike other disciplines where, in colleges, education is imparted to add knowledge, in the case of Marine Training it is mainly to develop skills along with knowledge and when there is dearth of intake where specific skill is needed there must be a control in the number trained. Hats off to R. L. Institute of Nautical Sciences that has put on hold the cadets training by keeping the programme in suspended animation when there is slackness in employment of deck officers.
Specific points made out by Dr. Lakshmipathy need to be considered, though as he opines, it is indeed a Herculean task for the present V-C of IMU and its administration to carry on with the in-built problems facing the university, as the past follies haunt the institution.
Immediate suspension of cadet training must be implemented and concerted effort must be made both by the University and the D G Shipping to help the stranded cadets who require sea training to complete the course and get placement. Unless this is done there is no point in allowing the training for cadets to continue. A proper course of action must be implemented where all the players must be included to sort out the problem. It can not be treated in isolation as a mere non-employment problem; the very structure of training and examinations together with controls by different departments must be studied in detail. It would be worthwhile to have a study undertaken immediately to get at the root of all problems, plan the training with future requirements, based on correct information (not the bloated figures as normally given in Government procedures) available from the employers.
Leading trainers in the sector must be consulted for all the actions to be taken as they have the ear to the ground and know what is happening around.
BIMCO in 2005 estimated the supply and demand figures of trained marine personnel for 2010 as 624,000 and 637,000 respectively, showing a shortage. But the economic meltdown proved otherwise. Today there is a surplus, mainly in the junior level navigating officers and the training programme that envisages a ship board training of a year before completion makes it almost impossible for the huge bulk that is left in the streets for want of sea time.
We should do something about the entire maritime training and examination scheme that is available as of now and bring it in its entirety under an umbrella as suggested in the columns of Sagar Sandesh earlier.
In July 2011 in the seminar on the Manila Amendment of STCW it was suggested by leading personnel in Maritime Training that “Much can be accomplished by the Government only upon creation of one maritime administration responsible for the issuance of Certificate of Competency (CoC) and endorsements.” I feel that it is important that a single agency comes into force, which, not only will monitor the quality of the training but also monitor periodic changes in requirement of personnel and control the quantity of intake as well.
People responsible for training marine personnel must understand that unlike other disciplines where, in colleges, education is imparted to add knowledge, in the case of Marine Training it is mainly to develop skills along with knowledge and when there is dearth of intake where specific skill is needed there must be a control in the number trained. Hats off to R. L. Institute of Nautical Sciences that has put on hold the cadets training by keeping the programme in suspended animation when there is slackness in employment of deck officers.
Specific points made out by Dr. Lakshmipathy need to be considered, though as he opines, it is indeed a Herculean task for the present V-C of IMU and its administration to carry on with the in-built problems facing the university, as the past follies haunt the institution.
Immediate suspension of cadet training must be implemented and concerted effort must be made both by the University and the D G Shipping to help the stranded cadets who require sea training to complete the course and get placement. Unless this is done there is no point in allowing the training for cadets to continue. A proper course of action must be implemented where all the players must be included to sort out the problem. It can not be treated in isolation as a mere non-employment problem; the very structure of training and examinations together with controls by different departments must be studied in detail. It would be worthwhile to have a study undertaken immediately to get at the root of all problems, plan the training with future requirements, based on correct information (not the bloated figures as normally given in Government procedures) available from the employers.
Leading trainers in the sector must be consulted for all the actions to be taken as they have the ear to the ground and know what is happening around.
BIMCO in 2005 estimated the supply and demand figures of trained marine personnel for 2010 as 624,000 and 637,000 respectively, showing a shortage. But the economic meltdown proved otherwise. Today there is a surplus, mainly in the junior level navigating officers and the training programme that envisages a ship board training of a year before completion makes it almost impossible for the huge bulk that is left in the streets for want of sea time.
We should do something about the entire maritime training and examination scheme that is available as of now and bring it in its entirety under an umbrella as suggested in the columns of Sagar Sandesh earlier.
In July 2011 in the seminar on the Manila Amendment of STCW it was suggested by leading personnel in Maritime Training that “Much can be accomplished by the Government only upon creation of one maritime administration responsible for the issuance of Certificate of Competency (CoC) and endorsements.” I feel that it is important that a single agency comes into force, which, not only will monitor the quality of the training but also monitor periodic changes in requirement of personnel and control the quantity of intake as well.
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