India learning

In about a week, India will see a new government. Here are seven key ideas the new regime can ponder over in the important field of education:

Set up a national learning mission which goes beyond imparting functional literacy. The illiterates of the current century are not the ones who can’t read or write, but those who have forgotten how to unlearn and how to learn. In the ‘Knowledge Age’, nations that learn faster than others will have competitive advantage and thrive. This mission will combine the Right to Education with the Responsibility to Educate.

Connect the best of India with the rest of India. Deep educational inequalities exist between the best and the rest of India. The word “best of India” does not connote a self-aggrandising position. It is rather a disposition. The best of India is about greater access to resources, greater human capabilities, cultural, economic and historical advantages the rest do not have.

At the IIM in Kozhikode, we stand on a steep summit of aspiration. We had 217,000 students vying for 360 positions last year. This means only one student out of 603 applications got in. This summit stands precariously on a foundation of narrow competition and eager acquisition. We surely need a different, innovative model in higher education to mould talent and capture aspiration.

Next, target 400 million rural girl children. Literacy among India’s rural women is only 59 per cent, against 80 per cent among urban women. This bottom of the pyramid will be about 400 million Indian girls. We need schools with proper toilet facilities to keep these girl children interested in coming to class.

Change the focus of the HRD Ministry from human resource to human wealth development. If you take a human being as a unit of currency, then India will find itself the richest of its kind in the world thanks to its enormous human potential. Soon, the country will overtake China with a staggering 1.6 billion. The Indian economy will easily be among the top three largest economies of the world. We cannot take our demographic affluence for granted. We must have a ministry that thinks of our people as national wealth.

Globalise India’s soft power by opening Gandhi Leadership Centres and Vivekananda Youth Centres, on the lines of the Confucius Centres that China has is setting up around the world.

Set up an Indian Education Service to conduct a national search and selection process for identifying and training the best leadership talent available for educational institutions in India. Those selected through the education eervice will serve as vice-chancellors of universities, directors of IIMs and IITs and principals of schools and colleges. We can thus stem the tide of political appointments of education leaders through means that are educationally unsound.

Finally, create an Indian Leadership Academy through private-public partnership of which the Prime Minister will be the Chancellor. It will aim to engage young leaders and scholars in developing a vision and leadership philosophy for the nation.

Through participating in internships, nationally relevant projects, election campaigns and other hands-on social experiences, the very best of India’s talent will, we believe, learn how to lead the nation.

The nurturing environment at such an academy should enable young Indians to develop strong convictions about the country’s future, a deep sense of responsibility, a broad international viewpoint, and the ability to lead the nation to a dazzling future.

The writer is Director, IIM Kozhikode