Voicing for the need of radical transformation in the Indian education system, Rohit Gajbhiye, Founder, FinancePeer, at World Economic Forum 2020, Davos, said India needs to address issues like quality higher education, poor infrastructure, lack of skilled manpower and certain regulations so as to build a strong nation and become a superpower.
While speaking during a session at WEF, Rohit, who studied from prestigious institutions like IIT and Stanford, emphasized the need for structural and behavioral changes in the Indian education system so as to look towards building the right talent pool.
Rohit Gajbhiye is also a founder of an NBFC – FinancePeer, which aims to reduce the financial gap in the education sector by financing the fee of the students at zero percent interest and zero cost.
Emphasizing on availability of quality education to all, Gajbhiye said that the Indian government has rolled out several initiatives to ensure that last mile reach out of the education but it is necessary to understand that it is not only about education rather it is about quality education which should be made available to the masses which majorly comprises of lower-income and middle-income groups who can contribute a lion’s share in the development of the country.
He said that the need of the hour is to address the bottlenecks which deny quality higher education to a huge chunk of talent pool in the far-flung areas. “The government of India should use their initiatives like Digital India to take up higher education to the last mile. With this, the government can ensure its ambitious scheme of education for all,” he suggested.
“Despite being home to 152 central universities, 316 state universities and 191 private universities, India lags behind in imparting quality education. The top 100 universities list of Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings reveal this as none of the Indian universities was featured. This calls for an immediate action,” said Gajbhiye.
Raising his concerns about the curriculum systems, he said that the current education system focuses on route learning rather than productive and meaningful outcomes. He also called for the need for a value-driven education system so as to bring a behavioral change.
Talking about the futuristic approach towards education, Gabhiye voiced for the need to impart skill-based training along with training the students to be entrepreneurs. He hailed the initiative taken up by the Delhi government of promoting entrepreneurship through government schools in Delhi.
While concluding his thoughts, he said that these reforms are only possible if they implemented properly which should be the top priority of the governments.