How to build a super productive workforce in India

Manu A B in Mumbai

How many of you have wished a change in our education system?

Parul is an intelligent kid. But she dislikes going to school. Everyday she asks her mother, "Why do you send me to school? Why do I have to carry a heavy bag everyday? Why can't I learn everything at home?" And the mother does not have a satisfactory answer.

Amrita, another 8th standard student, religiously studies equations from her chemistry book every night before going to bed. She does it not out of the love for the subject but out of peer pressure to score high marks. And she dreams of a day when she will never have to touch chemistry books

There are thousands of children like them for whom the education system is a burden. "For years, students continue to learn from the same old textbooks, subjects which are of no interest to them. Instead of discovering the potential of kids, and honing their capabilities towards subjects they like, all are forced to study just to score high marks in the examinations," says a teacher who looks forward to a radical change in the education system.

"India, the 1.1-billion people nation, currently has 600 million youth below 25 years of age of which only 320 million are in schools and colleges; less than 25 per cent are employable! The youngest nation on the planet continues to be plagued with a severe job-talent mismatch," says Amit Bhatia, founder and CEO, Aspire India.

The failure of government schools in imparting good education for all and the mushrooming of thousands of incompetent private schools from the primary level to the professional level have tarnished the quality of the education system.

"We have not leveraged the power of education. Our engineers have become people who learn by rote, pass the examination and are incapable of making a difference to the society," Narayana Murthy, Infosys mentor, said on the occasion of Teacher's Day.

And none of the Indian universities figure among the top 100 universities of the world.

So where have we gone wrong?

Youth must set goals for future, says Abid Hussain

Visakhapatnam, Sept. 6: Addressing the first batch of diploma holders (Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering) from the Indian Maritime University (IMU), Visakhapatnam, Dr Abid Hussain, noted economist and former Indian Ambassador to the US and chancellor of the Indian Maritime University urged youngsters to set early goals in a fast changing global environment.

Mr Hussain said, “The youth of India have a major role to play in nation building what with the country facing many challenges.”

He added, “Present generation must strive for excellence in whatever they do and cannot afford to have a lackadaisical attitude either towards their responsibilities or their ambitions.”

Mr Hussain later awarded the certificates to the four diploma holders who passed out. The director of IMU, Mr S.C. Mishra, Visakhapatnam Port Trust chairman Mr Ajey Kallam, and IMU vice-chancellor Dr T. Vijayan and Hindustan Shipyard Limited chairman and managing director Mr Naresh Kumar were present.

 

Young ’uns rule the roost

Genesia Alves 

They used to say ‘youth is king’ but youth today is also entrepreneur, inventor, conqueror, innovator, super-achiever. Like software and technology that evolve in ever-steeper, ever-quicker ‘generations’, young people unencumbered by experience and high on the potential of ‘here and now’ everyday re-shape, re-program and rewrite the world we live in and the future that awaits us.

Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook made him at 26, the youngest billionaire in the world.

While cementing the validity of online social networking, generating new terminology and evolving the way ‘society’ functions for its 400 million members. Around the world, from surgeons to sports heroes, musicians to mountaineers, the blossoming begins in their teens and the peaks begin to be conquered in their early twenties. Here in India, IIT, our receptacle of genius, is already home to a very, very young professor, Tathagat Tulsi, 22 while Sahal Kaushik, at 14, the youngest to have ever cleared IIT’s Joint Entrance Exam, just won a gold at the 21st International Biology Olympiad in Korea.

As you struggle to keep up with the brash, brilliant bunch, take comfort from this: after years of struggling with her population, bright, bushy-tailed India is getting ready to reap the rewards of the ‘demographic dividend’ – a prosperity forecast based on a very happy ratio of a young population with a controlled fertility rate. In plain-speak – by 2020, the average Indian will be in his or her twenties, productive, healthy, with a great career ahead of him or her and fewer dependents to weigh him down. As they go from cradle to crest, on World Youth Day, it’s comforting to know the future has taken itself into its own capable hands and is doing very, very well.

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/tabloids/young-%E2%80%99uns-rule-roost-910

Youth, real wealth of India: Nair

Former chairman, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Dr G Madhavan Nair on Sunday described India emerging as a country with highest youth population as the real wealth.

He was speaking after inaugurating the 95th birth anniversary celebrations of Sri Shivarathri Rajendra Mahaswamiji of Suttur Mutt organised at the Mutt near the foot of Chamundi Hills in the city. “If the youth were imparted with education to hone their skills, the country can meet the requirement of both national and global level in the coming days”, Dr Nair noted. To achieve the same, all it needs is a particular vision and dream of the future, he added. Nair said, the facilities must reach villages and it is only through education development of rural parts would be a reality. Of the 700 million villages in India, half of the population is below poverty line. They should be assured of food security, besides water and health. Saying that India is endowed with intellectual people since history, Nair said it is due to the progress achieved in those days, the country is enjoying most of the advanced facilities in the present days. It may be security or information, there is a million fold increase in its availability. Nair was happy to note that India has emerged as a global power and cited the example of ‘Chandrayaan-1’, as a path breaking discovery in the field of space. Former president, Kannada Sahitya Parishat, Prof G S Siddalingaiah in his ‘Nudi Namana’ went down memory lane recalling the odds Rajendra Swamiji had to face in establishing hostels for the benefit of students. “Swamiji had to sell the valuables in his possession to meet the expenditure pertaining to food at the hostel”, said Siddalingaiah. Vice-chancellor, Dr Gangubai Hanagal, Music and Performing Arts  University, Dr Hanumanna Nayaka Dore said that the contribution of veerashaivas to the field of music is immense. Veerashaiva Punyashrama in Gadag is dedicated to music irrespective of caste, he said. Vice-chancellor, Rani Chennamma University, Belgaum Dr B R Ananthan and  Vice-chancellor, Gulbarga University, Dr E T Puttaiah spoke about their association with the mutt since several decades. Vice-Chancellor, University of Mysore, Prof V G Talawar also spoke. Mayor Sandesh Swamy in his presidential address hailed Rajendra Swamiji as a man of mettle who set an example for others by selling valuables, for the cause of education, when the educational institutions are mushrooming only to reap enormous wealth. The bust of Rajendra Mahaswamiji placed on a flower bedecked sliver palanquin, mounted on an open jeep was taken out in a procession from JSS Mahavidyapeetha to Suttur Mutt. The procession was accompanied by several cultural troupes. Suttur Seer Sri Shivarathri Deshikendra Swamiji, MLCs Prof K R Mallikarjunappa, Thontadarya and others were present.

Plan to involve youth in policy formulation

The HinduIN DISCUSSION: (From left) Pratik Prakashbapu Patil, Minister for State Youth Affairs &Sports; K. Kasturirangan, Member, Planning Commission and C.R. Kesavan, deputy president, RGNIYD at a function at Sriperumbudur on Wednesday. Photo: R. Ragu

The Ministry of Youth Affairs plans to set up a portal to provide a forum for the youth to participate in formulation of policy, Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports Pratik Prakashbapu Patil said on Wednesday.

Addressing the Foundation Day celebrations of the Rajiv Gandhi National Institute for Youth Development (RGNIYD), Mr. Patil said the portal sought to give voice to the aspirations of the youth and increasingly engage them in the planning process. “The Ministry is planning to move youth affairs to the foreground of planning and policy-making and encourage youth to have a say in governance.”

According to him, the Education Ministry was also conceiving interdisciplinary courses in medicine and engineering. For instance, doctors these days needed to have a bit of engineering skills to implant mechanical devices and lawyers had to have a fair level of expertise in an area such as DNA testing.

The Minister released the Youth Development Index and Report and a compendium of articles, ‘Unfolding Tribal Mindset with Focus on North-East of India,' brought out by the RGNIYD.

Delivering the third Foundation Day lecture, K. Kasturirangan, Member, Planning Commission and former ISRO chairman, said the early failures of the country's space missions provided important stepping stones to success.

Using the ISRO experience to encourage the youth to use failures as a learning opportunity, Mr. Kasturirangan said some of the failures such as an occasion when three rockets failed and the fourth was abandoned helped scientists detect faults “early in the game,” and avoid carrying them into bigger vehicles.

He recounted how the ISRO overcame a glitch to facilitate a successful maiden flight for a geosynchronous satellite. India was only the fourth nation to develop such a satellite and it took eight years to assemble. But, the rocket failed to take off after countdown. A team of scientists toiled to work out the possible scenarios for the anomaly and, finally, the satellite was launched in orbit after 18 days.

The ISRO's spirit of innovation that led to the development of some of the world's best remote sensing satellites for specific applications and the team work behind space missions were the other lessons for the youth, Mr. Kasturirangan said.

A.K. Upadhyay, Secretary, Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India, called for earmarking a larger role for youth in the nation-building process in the Twelfth Five Year Plan. He pointed out that the estimated 8 million youth enrolled in the two lakh rural youth clubs across the country presented a resource base that could be leveraged to deliver various national programmes.

C. R. Kesavan, RGNIYD vice-president, said the institute aimed to capitalise on the demographic dividend in a country where 40 per cent of the population was in the 15-35 age group.

P. Michael Vetha Siromony, RGNIYD Director, spoke.

Reforming India's Universities

KANTI BAJPAI, Aug 21
 
If India is to build a stable liberal democracy, if we are to empower the vast mass of the Indian public, if we want to give ourselves a more equitable and fair society, and if we want sustainable economic growth, then our university system desperately needs to be reformed. The UPA government has understood this. Its plan to massively expand the university system is recognition that the idea of a liberal, empowering, just and sustainable India depends on a vibrant, expanding higher education system.

Critics have argued that quantity will come at the cost of quality. This is correct, but as Kapil Sibal, the minister for human resources development, has recognised, there is simply no alternative. Over the longer term, quality should improve. One way of dealing with the fall in standards is to bring in foreign talent. India's university system is depressingly Indian. You can walk the corridors of academe and not see a single foreign face amongst the faculty. Our university system does not embody universality. Like Indian industry in the 1960s and 1970s, it has shut out foreigners and has suffered as a result.

India's universities need to be made more 'universal' if they are to flourish. The latest ranking of world universities shows that India has a long way to go in higher education. Its once proud university system, the best in Asia after the Second World War, has fallen on very bad times. It is not that Indian university education has languished altogether. The IITs (even though they have a lot to answer for), IIMs and a host of other universities such as Delhi and JNU have brought high quality higher education to India. Nevertheless, relative to the rest of the world, India has fallen behind. It has also fallen behind in terms of India's demographics. Our much-vaunted 'demographic dividend' and 'youth bulge' will turn into a social and political nightmare if we do not expand and improve university education.

Bringing in foreign talent will help our university system. If we look around the world, we will see that no university system of any repute is insular, certainly not as insular as India's. Even China, with its authoritarian political system and its relative lack of English competence, has thousands of foreign faculty.

Historically, there is no major university system that has been self-sufficient. This is particularly true of the American university system which drew and continues to recruit massively from Europe and other continents. A university must be as universal as possible in terms of recruiting talent. Recruitment in India must be opened up not just to NRIs. It must be opened up to everyone Asians, Africans, Arabs, Europeans, Latin and North Americans that has the English language competence to teach in India.

The presence of foreign faculty will not only help bridge the gap in quality teachers. It will also have an impact on Indian colleagues. Good quality teachers from abroad will have a powerful demonstration effect. Indian universities, like Indian schools, suffer from teacher absenteeism, from lack of professionalism in terms of classroom transactions, from a lackadaisical approach to supervision and from abysmal research. Foreign colleagues, just in the normal course of their functioning, will both embarrass and inspire Indian counterparts.

More than any amount of exhortation from the HRD ministry or vice-chancellors or articles in newspapers, it is this that will energise the Indian faculty. Of course, hiring foreigners will cost us money. It will also require adjustment in our horrible visa and residency rules. We could save money by hiring foreigners on a part-time basis, at least in the beginning; see the experience of the Indian School of Business. And surely it is not beyond our home ministry, mad as it is, to amend our approach to visas and residency. India's national interest requires that we find the money and construct an entry system for foreign teachers. Above all, it requires that we change our attitude to the presence of foreign faculty in our universities.

Read more: Reforming India's Universities - Edit Page - Opinion - Home - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/opinion/edit-page/Reforming-Indias-Universities/articleshow/6382490.cms#ixzz0y9WR3OxI

India needs cadre of skilled youth: Kalam

Staff Reporter
— FILE Photo: PTI

Former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Bangalore: “No Indian youth should be without either a world class higher education or without world class skill sets,” former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam said here on Sunday.
Interacting with students and faculty at the Oxford Educational Institutions, he said that India needs a large number of talented youth with higher education “for the task of knowledge acquisition, knowledge imparting, knowledge creation and knowledge sharing”.
A large segment of India's population — 540 million people — is under the age of 25, he added.
India's university education system contributes three million graduates and post-graduates every year and the country's schools educate seven million a year.
“Educational systems should create two cadres of personnel — a global cadre of skilled youth… and another cadre of youth with higher education,” he said.
These cadres will be needed “not only for powering the manufacturing and services sectors of India but also… to [fulfil] the human resource requirements of various countries in specialised areas in science, technology, humanities and management,” said Prof. Kalam.
“The university system will have to work towards increasing the output of the higher education system from the existing 11 per cent to 15 per cent by 2015, 20 per cent by 2020 and 30 per cent by 2030,” he said.
In his inimitable style, Prof. Kalam charmed his young audience with his inspirational messages, some that he exhorted the students to repeat after him.
“Defeat the problem and succeed” was the central theme of his address, which he illustrated with examples from history and contemporary personalities.
It was his creative streak that helped Mario Capecchi overcome acute adversity and win the Nobel Prize, he said. Likewise, initial failure did not deter the genius A.K. Ramanujan, he added.
The former President acknowledged the work of H. Sudarshan, founder of Vivekananda Girijana Kalyan Kendra, at BR Hills.
“In the present circumstances and environment, it was inspiring to see how a MBBS doctor has put all his dreams in mainstreaming the tribal citizens of Karnataka for the last 25 years,” he said.
Potential
Addressing students of the Presidency Group of Institutions at an interactive session at the Koramangala Indoor Stadium, Prof. Kalam said that India has all the resources to become a developed nation by 2020 but lack of confidence among its youth was increasingly becoming a hindrance to make this dream a reality.
He said that India has made progress in various sectors, including agriculture and manufacturing, and it is leading the information technology revolution.
“We have everything to become a developed nation. However, the confidence level of our youth is a worry,” he said.
For students, it was a special class by “Kalam Sir” and they welcomed him with a huge applause, and some of them presented flowers too.
They were eagerly waiting to hear his speech and “Kalam Sir” did not disappoint them.

http://hindu.com/2010/08/30/stories/2010083060010400.htm
He taught them how to have “wings to fly” and urged them to “dream big”.