Death and Re-birth of the Indian Education System

Looking outside, through the rain-splattered windows, at the dark grey skies, I wonder how much of where I am today has anything to do with the two behemoths of higher education I was extremely lucky to attend.

A lot. But really? Maybe, maybe not. While I loved my 6 cumulative years at IIT and IIM, I know for a fact that there are simple things that these global temples of education could have done better. This is not a rant. It is a mere reflection of how I, and maybe many others, who btw are doing very well, could have benefited more.

🎓 Stop over-focusing on academics: Grades are portrayed to be the “be all and end all”. Not the case in real life. Not at all. While the capability to excel matters, the capacity to cram and regurgitate does not

🎓Active coaching: Professors are not just SMEs. They have to be motivators and coaches. So often students would be told that they were horrible. This was not a regular occurrence but happened more often than not. This is not preparing anyone for real life. Formative years need support, not stress and trauma.

🎓 Holistic education: While core courses matter a lot, so do courses on psychology, communication, and people skills, entrepreneurship, organizational skills, time management, appreciation of art and music, etc. I was lucky to attend some of these courses and they have had a much bigger impact on me than fluid dynamics. Some of these should be core courses

🎓 Collaboration over competition: Economies, companies, and countries are building via collaboration with a healthy mix of competition. Not relative grading and unhealthy fight for 1 point of GPA

🎓 Networking: It's not the courses, it's not the professors, it's the network that matters. Learnt that too late

🎓 Tailor the curriculum to the modern student: Curriculum @IITK was tailored to the 5% who end up going for higher education and not for the 95% who would end up being leaders in corporate setup in 10-15 years. The curriculum at IIM was too focused on grades and outshining the person next door to get the 10 Investment banking jobs and not on creating a holistic leader equipped with modern tools and a global outlook

If we are to form holistic modern leaders, our educational institutes have to step up their game. Maybe someone from the inside is listening