This is my second article on this topic, previous one being "Indian Education System - Needs to be Overhauled" published on June 20, 2013.
The previous article and this one establishes that I have always been a critic of the Indian Education system with British Foundation in it and have always echoed that the India Education system needs to be revived from where it is today to where it was before the Foreign Attacks destroyed the then prevailing India Education system. Gone and Forgotten are the days when India was the hub of Education with the revered universities like Takshashia and Nalanda were the prime Universities for education and had invited the best and the brightest from across India. Now, the Indian Education system is nothing but a system that encourages rat race rather than promoting vocational practices.
This article titled "Indians study hard and get MBA, may be buy Mercedes but lack creativity: Apple co-founder Steve Woz" based on Steve Wozniak's (Apple fame) opinion relates a lot to that. I actually came across this on an FB post by a Friend Dr. Vivek Kaul and then the discussion where Dr. Kaul and one of his friend Jayati Roy exchange interesting notes.
In the FB article reference above, Dr. Kaul writes "Very few people would have worked & interacted with hundred of nationalities as I have. One of my sole reasons for this is to understand what keeps India n Indians from breaking into the big league. I thought I had worked with almost all nationalities till this Saturday when a nurse at the hospital declared she is from Reunion Island ! Stumped by her looping googley I left everything down to go to Google n know Reunion Island is a Country between Mauritius & Madagaskar with its own mini melting pot of Africans Chinese Indian & French!"
How true that we, who have worked with people of multiple nationality still get stumped by the way we get to hear about a new nation that is as tiny as may be one city in India. Now, why is that? just because our dear education system in India is not interested to teach us the global aspects and is very much limited to the doctrine on which Britishers established it.
Dr. Kaul further writes - "let me go back to this Steve Pundit who rightly thinks Indians are not creative .
He is from Polish extraction whose forefathers must have left Poland to escape poverty as have majority of half a million Poles in UK - coming after joining the Super Welfare Club of EU in 2004 !
When you escape poverty from third world conditions , you are not exactly creative in the Einstein or Chaplin mould! Vast majority of his compatriot Poles in the UK are not exactly creative as Woznaic expects Indians to be!
Majority of Polish citizens in Great Britain are in building industry as builders , plumbers , electricians or in hospitality sector as Cleaners, waiters etc etc - not exactly a creative enterprise ! They are doing these dead end jobs to escape the high unemployment rate & poverty - exactly the same scenario from which Indians are escaping with better degrees to the West or other countries incl Middle East .
Indians are better than Woznaik's Polish cousins tho !
Indians earn much more than expat Polish manual workers with a PAYE - tax deducted at source income unlike cash in hand income of Polish workers! People have always immigrated mainly for economic or prosecution reasons - lets not kid ourselves. Irish, Jews, Dutch, & vast South East Asian immigrants all fit this bill.
Third world immigration is mainly due to same reasons .
Now coming to the other reasons of lack of creativity! Foundation of your character is laid in your primary school & home country environment!"
Indeed the last portion of the statement above refers to the lack of creative culture in Indian Education system. Right form the childhood we are taught only limited amount that would work to make us either an Engineer (to do repetitive jobs), a Doctor, a clerk or something on the similar lines. I remember a case where due to the geographical incline, one particular piece of construction was getting damaged at a particular height. The Project Engineer reviewed the scenario and revised the design (thinking in a creative manner) and the structure got the strength required as there as a curve introduced. Interestingly, that was not honored and that Project Engineer was alleged of malpractice and he hence resigned from job. The management of the organization was least concerned about the good work done, but was more concerned that the structures revised architecture increased the cost. How funny or should I actually call it tragic??
Taking another example where creative thinking is culled by Indian Education system - A student never wanted to be an engineer or a doctor, he wanted to be an artist. Though he was academically an ace of his batch, he was more inclined in theatre, but the peer pressure and the pressure from his teachers went on so much that he had to give in to prove that he excels in studies forgetting his theatre dream. Thanks to the Education System to this effect. If it would have been an education institute in west, as Dr. Kaul refers in his words - "Primary school education is a revelation in the West. It is in the most friendly atmosphere that western kids are nurtured by an army of happy smiling teachers & teaching assistants. No home work is ever provided & no test given for next class admission. Everyone eats the same decent State provided food. Stories are read by actors like teachers with differing voices to suit the story characters amongst the giggles or hush of boys & girls. Small kind gestures are rewarded - if a kid helped other with shoe laces or in an English lesson! Assembly hall is told Joshua was very kind to Simon and he helped him with his heavy rucksack Well done Joshua. You are a Star. Joshua thinks he can conquer the world. The idea is to make each boy or girl by turns proud of themselves. This lays a excellent foundation to their future. Cramming is deplored & as said end of the term exams do not take place & you are automatically promoted to the next. Equal emphasis is on music games & arts." Alas!! In India that is just one long forgotten case!!
Jayati Roy adds her opinion on Dr. Kaul's article as - "Our education system sadly does not allow the children to pursue their own dreams and interests. We are obsessed with churning out more doctors, engineers and lawyers than nurturing innovative skills in our children. The need to survive and earn takes over the dreams of excelling in other fields of knowledge and arts. Most parents do not encourage their children to think on their own but impose their own unfulfilled dreams and goals which builds up as huge pressure on the child and he shuts the world of imagination and creativity and starts working on realising his parents wishes. Failure is not tolerated and comparisons with other children make it more worse . the government education policy is also a big hurdle. They have never invested in such an important area and we have a huge number of graduates and literates whose main objective is to earn money and nothing else!. With a population of 1.2 billion, it is more about doing a job amidst high corruption and caste reservations that take up the mindset than to compete globally in innovative skills and knowledge. You have rightly observed that unlike the west we hunt for talent in the university level and not in the primary school level stage. I entirely agree with you that the battles of third world nations override the need for bringing the best of the creative skills and knowledge in to the global platform."
Indeed she has read the article by Dr. Kaul in all the right perspective and related to the overall truth exposed by Dr. Kaul.
What is the crux of the matter - Indian Education system as highlighted by Woz and then elaborated by Dr. Kaul as well as Jayati Roy, needs to be revisited. Focus on Vocational Trainings need to be emphasized. "Catch them Young" needs to be the success criteria as creativity can be seen in a child right when they start playing with Lego's or start fidgeting with the musical instruments in their childhood. It is important to encourage them right at the time they get out from their Diapers and start wearing those pajama suits to go to bed. Need is to encourage.
India, a country of a billion plus doesn't have the lack of skills or talent, but indeed has a lack of mentors. There is a dearth of those who would step up to encourage Risk Taking behavior to try something new and something creative. It indeed is an open secret for the world that Indians in the West are more creative and more Risk Taking race than any other one, then why not just in India? Simple answer is the Rat Race being promoted by the Indian Education System that qualifies success by the academic brilliance for Fat Pay Check rather than a meaningful occupation with inner peace!!!
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