One of my close relatives who was a teacher asked me what I was doing. He replied me “You were brilliant student, what happened? You turned out to be gandu (coward, gutless)”, when I told him that I was doing BA. In urban areas the situation may be somewhat different, but in rural parts everywhere appears the same story. Nobody is going to appreciate you if you are “arts student”.

To come to the fact, the “arts students” in the rural colleges are mainly those who are not left with any choice in pursuit of getting graduation degree. They can’t do anything good in other faculties either, i.e. commerce and science. They don’t attend the classes regularly and appear only at time of examination with proper planning of malpractices. And still organizations must be thanking them for keeping their ‘business’ rolling. But hold on.....there are some students also who are pretty serious about their education and career. They are crushed between that internal politics and some opportunistic people for money. This is area I want to concentrate upon.

They are less in number and very much confused. And to talk about these students, most of them are in the arts faculty not because they really love psychology or geography but because they find it cheaper and easy than science or commerce side. Apart from poverty there may be some other reasons as people think girls need not take science side etc. etc. Some of them are here because they had found science or commerce side difficult in their earlier education. It’s a irony. Interests of students here have no value. Some of them have come here because they couldn’t get selected in D.Ed. Course after their 12th class. They will do anything which comes their way as a slightest hope.

Forget about likes and interests. Many times we grow love for what we do. And only hope about these students is they are very much serious. At least they have a desire to succeed, to score good, get a degree and find some job. And here they face a problem of being directionless and without target. These students don’t know what they can do and they ought to do. Unfortunately there are very few people who can guide them properly. Even the lecturers here don’t know the emerging opportunities for their students. What all these people know is after graduation they will take education degree, or post graduation and pay some institute in Lacs to be a lecturer or teacher there.

At the time I passed the HSC Examination from arts faculty, I had no other way than taking admission for FYBA at A. S. and C College, Nampur. But after I start my graduation, I gradually realized there were good days ahead if I improve my English. I kept in touch with career programs on television, which helped me to figure out the current situation about the employment in private sector for arts students. This is what you have to do. Here are some suggestions which I hope will help you.

§ Subject area: Find out somehow which people are looking for the people of your subject. What skills they expect from you. Whatever subject you choose, try to find out value of your education. Keep the eyes open and know more and more about your subject area.
§ English Language: English is not only for those who have taken it as a special subject and for science faculty students. Even if you are Geography student or Economics students, always take special efforts to get a command over English. Because almost all the official work needs English.
§ Technologies: Be in the flow of the current technologies. Computer literacy is the basic need now. Know what internet is. You can search anything related your subject on internet. And keep in contact with your subject area Experts.
§ Be independent: Try to know yourself about your field. Find the new resources. Know which softwares people use in their particular field. If you are geography student, then know what GIS is. If you are English student then know what creative writing, proofreading, editing, technical writing is.
§ Options: There are always options open to you. You can add something apparent to your qualification by doing some diploma or courses. If you are Economics graduate, take some foreign language course or do MBA. The opportunities will fly over to you.
§ The days have changed: The days were never good for “arts students”. As we look around, in India BPO and IT industry is booming. Psychology stutents have the positions open there as Counselors. Geography students have lot of opportunities in private companies if they have done the courses like GIS. In BPOs and Call Centers and the basic requirement is only being a graduate and knowing English. If you are English graduate you have lot to do. You can do the courses like Instructional designing, Technical Writing, Content Development and get good money for that. Content writers are required for websites, tourism industries and everywhere where there is documentation. Apart from these, editing, proofreading are also good career options. If you do mass communication, journalism degree, there print, electronic media are always open for you.


You might have heard - Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness. Be ready to work hard, be a quality person, have a confidence in yourself and most important thing - you set a target. Try to learn there is better way of living ahead. What you have to do is just try to find that out.