India has produced some of the most talented individuals who have done us proud with their exemplary intellect and qualifications. To name a few… Sathya Nadella – CEO, Microsoft. Indira Nooyi – CEO, Pepsico, Ajay Banga – President & CEO, Mastercards, Harish Manwani – COO, Uniliver, Shantanu Narayen – CEO, Adobe, Rakesh Kapoor – CEO, Reckitt Benckiser, etc. They all have at least four things in common. Can you tell those? They all are Indians. Top Executives. Hired by MNCs. And, highly educated.
Talking about education system in India, Delhi University is amongst the top 5 universities in the world. Not for nothing. Indian people are in demand world over for their intellect . Again, not for nothing. Recently Google has hired Indore’s Sidhant Rajhans at a package of 3 Crores! Not for nothing, but surely for one thing – Education!
On one hand where we must celebrate these outstanding country fellows, on the other hand, we must ensure that we keep producing more talent. This can happen through a more robust system of education. Not very long ago, there was a News report on the conditions of primary education in India’s rural areas, where the teachers failed to answer questions as basic as the “Spelling of Wednesday, February”, “What is our national anthem?”, “who is India’s President?”, etc. My jaw dropped down to floor on hearing those Primary teachers’ answers, like, “Our national anthem is Sare Jaha se achha”, “Our President is Manmohan Singh”, “Spelling of Wednesday, is WENDAY”
I am sure many of us would feel the same way as I do, that there is a definite need for upliftment of the standards of education in India. If we wish to see India as a truly developed country in some time to come, then we have to pay a serious attention on this most important aspect of development – that is basic Education. Right from the basic infrastructure like, buildings, blackboards, desks, copies, pencils, uniforms, to the most important ingredient of imparting education, that is, teachers and students, especially girl students – there are big gaps which needs to be filled.
But, things are not as gloomy as I might have sounded till now. Improvements are there for sure. People and organisations are coming forward own their own to take up the challenge of improving the standards of education in India. Companies like, GAIL, ONGC, LANCO, Tech Mahindra, DLF, etc. are doing remarkable job in improving the education standards in India. Their efforts and enthusiasm needs to be appreciated.
Prashant Das,
Consulting Editor, CSR TIMES
