Kalvimalar

Right from the time of Independence, the same pattern of education has been followed across our nation.  Over a long period of time, the same classroom environment continues to haunt many of us. 

Until this day education in our country was based on providing information. Teachers in the classroom gave more importance to providing the necessary information to students that they needed to know. Nowadays, modern technologies that provide more information than teachers have come into use. In such a situation, there is no other option other than to have a change in the education system.

College - not school

Our education system needs to be changed as early as possible. India is an extremely populous country in the world. It is also a country with the largest population of young people. It�s highly imperative that proper training should be provided for the youth to work in the right direction. Only if we bring a quick change in the educational process our youth will become a better asset to our country. If that doesn�t take place in the near future, they would turn out to be the biggest challenge for the country. I hope that academicians, officials and politicians are seriously considering this towards taking appropriate efforts.

It is extremely important that educational institutions collaborate with industries. However, several higher education institutions in our country still function like a school. This is not the right approach. Institutions should no longer work with the aim of producing a large number of graduates and hoping to get them employment.

Design Thinking

Educational institutions should now become a place to nurture ways to identify problems with the help of modern technologies, how to think innovatively, and the means to solve them with the help of modern technologies. Classrooms should become centers where students work together as a group to bring solutions to problems.

All the important necessary tools and equipment including stimulators and computers should be available in the classrooms.  Students should be involved in research in association with companies. The role of teachers should be to support this process. Let us hope that such an environment will soon come to educational institutions in India.

-Madhan A. Senthil, Chairman, Ratnam Educational Institutions, Coimbatore.