Last Monday, I was informed as usual that a group of students from a higher institution in Lagos was waiting in the reception of our office to see me.
They had come to seek placement for internship which is a requirement for completion Mass Communication study in Polytechnics and Universities. I could see the desperation on their faces as they waited for me to say yes to their requests when I eventually met them.
I asked which other media house they had gone to before coming to The Nation and they named four major organizations where they had been turned back.
I wished I could take them on and spare them the agony of wandering from one media house to the other in endless search for placement, but we already have more than enough interns in various departments in our company.
Normally, we don’t need more than half of those we had accepted, but we had to on compassionate grounds since the students must get a media house to accept them in compliance with their school requirement, even if there are no seats for them.
University and Polytechnic students are required to either undergo internship or the Student Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES) as part of their course of study.
Internship placements are however hard to get unlike in past years for the simple reason that there are too many applicants for the few spaces available in, especially major media houses or major organisations, where lecturers prefer.
Internship is a good opportunity for the students to learn practical skills, but what is the way out when media and other organisations can’t accommodate many of them.
Even when they are accepted, they are not paid and many are turned to errand boys and girls by those who are supposed to train them.
Media training institutions and others should be blamed for not regularly reviewing the internship programme in line with the state of the media and the sectors.
Why send students to companies and organizations they don’t interact with to discuss matters arising from the programme over the years?
How well are the students prepared for the reality of the media houses and organisations they have to intern in? Is there a comprehensive database to guide the students in their search?
Are there other internship options in view of the limited spaces for interns?
Desperate students break down crying at the gatehouse of our newspaper office when they are turned back by gatemen.
Some unscrupulous persons even try to take advantage of some girls with the promise of helping them to get placement.
This is not right and something urgent must be done to spare the students the agonies they are going through to get placements or be interns.
While many companies and organisations may be going through hard times which has forced them to scale down their operations or shut down, those who can afford to should regard provision of internship opportunities as a necessary contribution to training of graduates with relevant practical skills.
It has been noted that many graduates are not employable as they lack requisite skills, a conscious blend of the town and gown through structured internship programmes prepare the graduates better either as employees or entrepreneurs.
