You will find a lot of differences in Education abroad and that in India. In foreign countries; they focus more on practical based learning. And they allow creativity in education. There, education is taken as a learning process
In an Interview with the Founder & CEO, Global Mindset, we came across two completely different Educational scenarios prevailing in India and in Australia.
Education in Austraila has different set of rules and regulations. What do you think where the difference lies in the Education when you compare with India?
First of all, we have to look at the differences between the two countries. So, Australia is a country with 23 million people. The land mass is bigger than India. India has 1.2 billion people. When you look at the per capita income, Australia’s per capita income is 55000 whereas the per capita income of India is in low thousands. So, both the countries are different in terms of pedagogy and in terms of their need of the two countries.
Let’s take the case of print media. All over the world, including Australia, print media is dying. Digital media is struggling to find a business model in generate revenue. But in India, we are still in the belief that Print Media is growing with 7-8%. We need to find out the disconnection between the two.
According to me, not all people in India have access to Internet. India is more like Europe, where you have different cultures, languages, so automatically there is a regional demand which is still kind of boosting up and in an environment where you don’t have an access of Internet to everybody. Let us bring this example back to Education. In Australia, it is not the issue in terms of whether the opportunity is there for people to either take Vocational Education or Higher Education. People have the opportunity but whether they do it or nor is a different question.
In India, we have to create the environment where there are opportunities for people to have education of their choice. Secondly, Vocational Education is very big in Australia. So if I want to become a plumber or a driver, and if I earn good, nobody really bothers about it. On the other hand, the needs of India are heavily into skills. But there is some kind of social issue in terms of people who want to work in an office or as a plumber. So those are some of the differences we get to see between the two countries.
The education system is officially diverse. What do you think that every nation should come to a neutral idea of going forward?
I would like to answer this question in the context of globalization that we are living in at the moment. We are not only looking at a global world but also at a global mobility. In any country, if the credentials are not recognized then there are certain issues because the person has to rescale themselves. We have to come down to competency based Education where the certifications are recognized all over the world. That will help in terms of global integration.
The importance of Teachers in India is very hard. Students are getting smarter with Technology. Do you think that the emphasis of teachers is decreasing day by day?
There are 2 aspects of the question that you have asked me. The first one being the Digital Literacy where the problem not only lies only in India but all over the world. The problem is, the digital natives are more digital literates than the teachers. This leads to a situation where Teachers is mortally sometimes wondering how to cope with students. At the same time, there also arises a situation when a teacher finds that the classroom has a whole lot of new technology.
Depending on the demographics, the young teachers will s till be technology savvy than the older teachers. We have these issues at the moment and we all are living in a blended world which means we are transitioning from our face to face world to an online world where the combination of the online and virtual are coexisting.
