In the last two decades, there have been major disruptions with the Information Technology and Services Economy revolution. Our Education System could not keep pace and has lagged significantly in adoption to Job Marketplace requirements, and in result, producing a huge chunk of unemployable youth and creating skewed demand/supply in the Job Marketplace

Now there is a wake up call, a drive & focus from Government and Regulatory bodies to overhaul it completely and align to the present and future Job Market and nature of work. However, it’s a tough journey to bridge the wide gap created in decades and at the same time, put in place a feedback mechanism to sense the ongoing changes and respond timely. For instance, if a new technology comes up, any changes in economy and demands created in the Job Market, this should be able to fine tune syllabus and infrastructure quickly.

4 Keys that can transform the Education  System completely are as follows:

1. Profession of Choice, rather by chance.

This is the main bottleneck in the system, since Academic professions were not recognized socially due to payouts disparity and social status in people’s minds, as a result the Academic Professions have been the last choice or by chance. This has to be changed from Social Mindset and to be treated as equally as mainstream professions like Doctors, Engineer, CA and Lawyers and equally paid.

The Government has taken up major steps to match payouts to similar level Professions, however, the same needs to be extended to Private Institutions as well, where they hire Teachers with lowest payouts and exploit them, this creates instability and substandard teaching. How can we expect quality of  teaching from a Teacher who is paid peanuts and not satisfied with their profession. They also switch the Schools/Colleges frequently for the sake of higher payouts. This has had an adverse effect on Students’ academic performance and learning, since it takes time to establish a bond between Students and Teachers.

So the next time when you select schools for the admission of your child, it’s best to inquire from various sources how much Teachers are paid there and how long they stay there with the Institute.

This can be an icebreaker, as students’ interest & knowledge in subject is primarily driven by Teacher’s way of teaching and depth of knowledge. When core professionals with their intent goal of joining the teaching profession and making the subjects immersive and fun, will have a ripple effect on students calibre and can apply them in their professions right from research to Job Market Place & entrepreneurs etc.

2. Learning Facilitation, rather Knowledge check.

 

All assessments in Schools, Colleges & Universities primarily focus on checking Students’ knowledge level, sometimes even to prove that Teachers are more knowledgeable than Students. This actually creates an interactive learning barrier and demotivates Students. Many times Students get so bullied by Teachers that they lose interest in the Subjects/Institutions. This needs a complete shift, as knowledge is now easily & freely available, more important thing is how Teachers can be an enabler to create the best learning experience and be a catalyst to create interest in the subjects, 

In fact, Colleges/Universities don’t require Teachers at all, rather need Facilitators & Mentors (who are implementers in their field) and guide Students and bring the best out of them.

3. Hybrid Operating Model

At present College Universities operate in the Island Model and they have minimal interactions with Job Marketplace Professionals, Business & Entrepreneurs. So they end up producing something without understanding demand in terms of domain knowledge, Skills & Mindset.

This is mainly caused by Academicians entry and growth criteria which is primarily based on degrees, experiences & achievements within Academic field itself. This has been realised by very few institutes, who are trying to understand gaps and continuously working to keep at pace.

In particular Universities & Colleges, there needs to be at least 50% participation of core Professionals from the JobMarket place, Business owners and Entrepreneurs, which will create a diverse Knowledge Forum and inclusive Mindset, develop domain skill sets that are in tune to Market need. These lateral entries from Industry to Academic and vise-versa can solve major problems that we are facing now.

This hybrid Operating Model will ensure that there will be a continuous feedback mechanism from Industries, Job Marketplace & Organisations to Academics in terms of Economical and Technological development/disruptions and keep responding at pace.

4. Skills & Expertise focused, rather Knowledge focus

Overall higher Education system merely focuses on core conceptual knowledge with limited subject options, which need to widen up and align to Industry, Sectors & domains.

As a thumb rule, any Knowledge which can’t be applied in our Professional and Personal development is useless and carries no value in life and the irony is that we hardly apply 20% of what we learn from our Schooling system now and it’s rightly quoted as :

 “Knowledge without application is as good no knowledge at all”

There needs to be specialised streams directly mapped to Job Market/Roles/Positions and generalised degrees like BA, MA, BSc., MSc, MCA, BBA, BCA and MCA etc. have lost relevance, these should be either stopped or realigned in specialised areas like BA- Travel & Tourism  MSc – Clinical Pathology , BSc- Nursing, BSc- Network administration etc.  

Apart from focussing on specialised knowledge & expertise, there needs to be an equal focus on developing Soft Skills (like effective communication, negotiation and collaboration etc.), so that students are ready to get into the Career/Job Marketplace or to start their on own as Solo-prenuer or as setting up new Business.

Road ahead :

Let us be a part of this transformational journey, influence the Education System in our capacity as Customer, Contributor and set high expectations for the Schools, Colleges & Universities with required cooperation & support, then nothing can stop us to make India a global quality Education hub and our next generation don’t need to go abroad and spend huge money in their Education, and also lead an fulfilled, successful and happy life .