Education in India needs to go through a complete shift from the quintessential concept of grades, exams, textbooks and teachers.
NEW DELHI: Education in India needs to go through a complete shift from the quintessential concept of grades, exams, textbooks and teachers, and it needs to be more technical and accessible to all, said technocrat Sam Pitroda.
"When we think of education we assume grades, teachers, school, books etc. These things do not matter anymore. The paradigm in education needs to be changed," Pitroda told a gathering of diplomats, academicians and scholars on Friday evening.
"Today with the kind of technology that is developing everyday we can learn just about anything. I know this kind of model would have challenges and it may take up to 15-20 years time but it will happen," he added.
"We need to build a knowledge-based society and take education to the poorest of the poor, which I believe is the greatest challenge of all. Rural development is the key to this country's true development and not the economic prosperity of the country," said Pitroda, chairman of the National Knowledge Commission (NKC).
"A knowledge economy needs minds and we have to create those minds."
Adding that the government has envisaged to allocate more funds towards the development of education in the 11th five-year plan, Pitroda said, "In the 11th five-year plan the prime minister has decided to increase the funds needed for education, almost four times of what had been provided in the last plan."
"I hope this would bring in more inclusiveness and make the education system more affordable," said the Chicago-based technocrat-entrepreneur.
"We, at the knowledge commission, are recommending some major transformational changes in the Indian education system which is bound to attract criticism and debates. But we must remember that we need to make education more equitable and inclusive," he emphasised.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh set up the NKC in 2005 with the objective of introducing radical transformation in the country's education sector. It is expected to create a fundamental change in higher education, vocational training, libraries, e-governance, right to education and translations.
Some of the other recommendations of the NKC include development of the translation industry, teaching of English as a language along with the first language from Class I, building of a national knowledge network and creation of more universities.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}