Temples of learning need lessons in education?

Academicians Speak Up on what is wrong with the education system in the country

We need to improve to be on par with top varsities
The rankings given to the universities by Times, London, have certain parameters. These rankings are very authentic and are considered really important. They depend on a lot of factors where Indian institutes lag. The rankings are based on the teaching and learning patterns, internationalisation of institutes, research as well as number of foreign students and teachers in an institute.

Research is not just filing a report, it should be widely cited by other researchers in their books, journals or reports. Unless we improve in all these aspects, we can never make it to the list of top institutes. Besides, we are against privatisation of universities, but if we look at it closely, private universities are in a better position to match the standards of top varsities.

-----SB Mujumdar, president and founder-director, Symbiosis Society

Causal attitude towards work needs to be changed
There is a need to make a lot of changes like upgrading teachers, finding good researchers for educational domain, access to fundamental and latest research - that are not really known to our students under the current syllabi. But the most important thing is to bring a change in our attitudes. The people in international institutions are not scared to work hard. They undertake about 400 case studies in a year, but in India it is vice versa, as we have a very causal attitude towards hard work- be it students or teachers.

We also need to have academic, community and leadership development. There is no ‘one-a-day capsule’ to bring about this change, nor it is only about research or money; it is actually about attitude and hard work. It is about the resources that we have, how we use them, develop them and improve them.

----Prachee Javadekar, director, Javadekar Education Consultancy Services

We need empowered people to create better institutions
I think we need to focus on excellence. In government organisations we get killed by mediocrity very soon. They advertise for posts, they get the people with right degrees, but most often from bad institutes. And once mediocre people are in one place, they have a tendency to avoid bright and sharp people. We should work like Homi Bhabha; he looked for the best minds and gathered them in one place. Good people gravitate to good people. We need empowered people to groom bright minds and create better institutions. We have to get rid of lengthy procedures and the habit of working slowly.

Once authoritative people move to higher positions, they are least bothered about setting things right in institutes that are not working properly. Unless these changes are made, we can never achieve the level of success required to be listed among top universities or colleges.

----Arvind Gupta, visiting scientist, IUCAA.

Students should have more choices, as it helps bring out the best in them
Our education standards per se are not bad, but we need to change the way we govern ourselves. We need to make changes in our system so that students have more to choose from. If they have choices, they will choose different fields and that will help in bringing out the best in them.

Though choices are opening up now, students need more options. Apart from that they need counselling to select the right one.

Parents also need to be counselled, so that they understand the choices made by their children. Universities should review their syllabi and try to update rather than upgrade them, because even psychology has undergone a huge change. We need to have a lot more fundamental research, as that is where we are lacking.
 ----Indira Parikh, founder-president, Foundation for Liberal and Management Education

We lag in producing industry-ready students
It is true that faculty and students together form the base of a quality institute, but there are other factors that need to be considered as well.

One of the major problems faced by Indian institutes is that our institutes are poorly funded.

Secondly, there is no connection between educational institutes, the government and the industry in India. If we compare ourselves with America in this regard, we are definitely lagging.

The companies are so engrossed with work that there is no one to groom the trainees. We do not produce industry-ready students, and that is where we are lagging. We are more of followers than leaders. India needs to have more people like Steve Jobs, instead of followers. All this will help us raise our standards.

----Achyut Godbole, MD, Soft Excel Consultancy Services