Four out of 10 Indian engineers can't comprehend English

In a shocking revelation, four out of every 10 engineers in India are unable to understand English, which includes their day-to-day conversation and writing correct sentences, a survey has found.

According to the survey by employability measurement company Aspiring Minds, English learning level among engineering graduates is very poor in India.

More than 25 per cent of engineers do not even possess the English comprehension skills required to understand engineering school curriculum, the survey, which analysed the English skills of over 55,000 engineers in 250 different engineering colleges in India, said.

"Around 36 per cent of engineering graduates would be unable to read official reports and transcripts and derive information out of them, even when the information is explicitly stated," the survey noted.

The findings of the survey are in sharp contrast to the fact that English fluency is considered as one of the key qualities that recruiters look for during the interview process.

The survey found that only 57 per cent of the respondents can write grammatically correct sentences in English and less than 48 per cent can understand moderately sophisticated words of English.

Moreover, candidates with English skills above the local average stand out from the crowd and garner 30-50 per cent higher salaries than similarly-qualified candidates without English skills.

According to Aspiring Minds Director Varun Aggarwal, this is by far the most comprehensive analysis of English skills of engineers in India.

Interestingly, not more than 30 per cent of engineering students, who undergo stress and exhaustion while preparing for entrance exams, were acquainted with the word "exhaust".

In order to improve this situation, schools need to do a lot more to cover the gap and engineering colleges need to introduce bridge courses in the first semester and during semester breaks for students with deficient skills, the survey added.