One of the most alarming facts is that every year India produces engineers the size of Switzerland’s population and yet Switzerland ranks first in terms of innovation, and our beloved nation doesn’t even make it to the top 50. While a lot can be blamed on the stressful curriculum of the top engineering colleges, if we dig deeper we will notice that the lack of innovation is an issue stemming from our education system itself.
We have a system which promotes the “mug-it-up” attitude from the very onset. If you can score 90% in boards, you are the next Kalam in the making. It doesn’t matter if you are developing conceptual and human skills as long as you keep getting grades higher than the rest. No wonder some of the most iconic Indian business tycoons weren’t toppers with a 95% in boards. They were average students with more than average problem solving skills. Unfortunately, our education system inhibits the growth of such personalities. The hectic syllabus, the monotonous question patterns, the lack of opportunities to develop other skills, etc. blindfolds a child from exploring other avenues. The innovativeness in him/her in most cases dies an unnatural and painless death.
However in this era of change, some of the colleges are taking steps to ensure well balanced development of its students by providing them not just theoretical but practical knowledge and experience as well. Preparing them for the world they are about to step-in in. The rise of the “fest culture”, however frivolous it may seem to the older generation, is allowing the students to come out of their cocoon and embrace the world they are to work in the near future.
With this mindset, the Xavier’s Commerce Society of St. Xavier’s College (Autonomous), Kolkata also presents the 8th edition of its National-Level Management Fest, Insignia’16: a fest that not just gives commerce students a taste of the real life corporate world but helps them understand that the true meaning of what Einstein said – ‘A single piece of paper cannot decide my future.’
It’s important that a curriculum tests the abilities of a student at various levels and not just on the basis of marks. Different colleges in India are now realizing this, and coming up with strategies which can segregate students based on the different qualities which they possess.
It’s important that these strategies get promoted not just by any one particular institute, but become an integral of the system. Only then we can expect to change the ‘herd culture’ which has become deeply rooted in our system.
Rise For India is a media partner of Insignia’16 by St. Xavier’s College, and we too hope that this herd culture that has embedded so deep in our mentality starts fading away with these efforts.
