Education plays a major role in shaping an individual's social and professional well being. It is a powerful instrument for reducing poverty and inequality. Thus, it becomes essential for us to have a robust education system which will prepare the individuals for the current demand and make them employable.
To empower the youth, first and foremost we need to pay heed to augment the current education system. The core objective of education is to make the individuals self-dependent and employable which the current system is unable to fulfill completely. The education system needs to be planned in a way that it meets the need of the VUCA world. The syllabus and curriculum should be designed in a way that it provides practical exposure and experience based knowledge to the students.
The higher education system can be broadly categorized under two categories (i) Government (ii) Private While we see a difference in the way the government and private institutes function, the private institutes have caught up with the need of the hour by providing additional programs and initiatives for grooming and preparing the students to efficiently deal with the current workplace dynamics, whereas most of the government institutes still need to buckle up.
Considering the evolving business dynamics, there is an immediate need to bring about a holistic change in the current education system. The industry and academia should collaborate to create skilled and employable individuals. The goal of the new education system should be on creating skill based employment opportunities.
What can be done to address this?
The education system should have governing councils to take informed decisions based on experience, knowledge and market requirement. These councils can be broadly dived into two (a) Academic Councils (b) Administrative Councils.
1. The Academic council should have members from reputed industries along with university members who will take key decisions with regards to academics
2. The Administrative council should comprise of government officials, army officials, and reputed individuals from academic and sports background
These councils will bring with them different perspective to enhance the overall education system and rather than encouraging the rote culture will focus on the practical application of learning.
It is essential for individuals to hone their skills and be industry ready so that they can be absorbed by the job market, this calls for an education system which is designed based on the skill requirement and technology. Industrial expert can contribute and collaborate with the academia team to create curriculum which meets the current industry demands. This syllabus should be periodically reviewed and revised as the industry is growing leaps and bounds with every passing year leading to greater technological advancement.
Technological advancements is bringing a drastic change in the way individuals learn. It is of utmost importance that in this age of technological advancement, the education sector should cope and leverage technological driven teaching. The industries should partner with colleges and provide them with necessary funds to keep track with the technological advancements and ensure the equipment's and infrastructure support this method of teaching
There should be lasting industry-institute partnership and equal ownership should lie with each to ensure the students are groomed, coached, mentored and prepared for the ergonomics of work. This collaboration can be further leveraged by organizing guest lectures, workshops, paper presentations, industrial visits, internships etc. which gives students the required perspective and practical application rather than just focusing on the theoretical aspects of learning.
To conclude, the Indian education system needs to undergo a drastic change in order to achieve its core objective of making youth employable and equipped to meet the market demands. A positive step towards this change can be brought by Industry - Institute collaboration in building effective curriculum and taking shared ownership for imparting Practice Based Education along with Training and development.
Alok Kumar Jha, EVP & CHRO
Alok leads the strategic and corporate initiatives related to Human Resources globally for Datamatics. He has been successfully developing HR strategies while focusing on the growth and development of people across all cadres in the organization. He has been instrumental in leveraging technology and automation to streamline several HR activities with the help of technology in his past 27 years of organizational experience. Alok has held several HR leadership roles, including that of SAP Practice Head for the HR function. He has played an influential role in transforming HR practices with the help of technology for many of the Fortune 100 companies globally.
