Last week, the Modi Government introduced India’s New Education Policy. India’s education policy hasn't changed over 3 decades, and it was high time a new policy that catered to the 21st century was introduced. The new education policy is framed based on the recommendations of an education committee that seems to have adopted a highly consultative approach, and sought inputs from academicians, scientists and thinkers across the country. The 65-page policy touches upon updating many aspects of current Indian education system, right from its structure of 10+2, to changes in curriculum. However, I would like to focus on the topic that I believe is a game changer: The policy’s vision of fostering an Innovation mindset among young Indians. But first:
Did you ever have to cut grass?
When I first started working in US, I used to live in Buffalo (upstate New York) and had rented a room at my friend — Mike’s, house. Mike had a big 4 bedroom house with a big front yard and a huge back yard, where Mike & I used to play with his dog Auzzie. During my first day at his house, I wondered as to how he maintains the beautiful lawn at his house. Does he hire someone to cut the grass, how much time it would take to maintain the perfect length, how often does he have to do it? My curiosity was killed the very next day when Mike took out the lawn-mover from his garage, sat on it, and mowed his huge backyard lawn in less than 30 minutes. I had seen lawn mowers before. But what I did not know then, was that these lawn mowers are part of American lifestyle, every homeowner has one, and they are so common that nobody talks about it. That led me wonder and explore why they are so uncommon in India.
Different Solutions to the same problem
The obvious answer is that labor is cheap in India, and one of the prime reasons as to why we don’t have as many machine-driven solutions as in US. However, I think there is more to the story. I believe there is a structural gap that hinders Innovative ideas turn into reality, and Indian Education Policy is partly responsible for it.
It’s a no-brainer that labor is cheap, and therefore, we do not use machines to cut grass in India. But the laborers who cut grass — do they ever think of better ways to optimize their efforts and time in cutting the grass? I am sure they do; and might have a “Jugaad” solution for their problems. But do they ever think beyond their immediate problem? If their work operation leads to back pain, do they think of building an efficient way of solving the problem that doesn’t lead to back pain? I guess not.
The person who cuts grass, does not have access to education that might help him/her build an efficient scalable solution, while the person who studies mechanical engineering and designs machines, may have never cut grass in his life.
Why is that so?
Post-Independence (1947), under the guidance of the first Indian Prime Minister, Indian Education Policy focused on nurturing a scientific temperament and created a number of Indian Institute of Technologies (IIT’s) and other scientific institutes. It led to genesis of some of the world’s best engineers, doctors, and scientists. If you look at Silicon Valley in California, where I live & work now, most of the leaders in leading tech companies are a product of this Indian education system.
However, a hard separation between arts and sciences, had undesired consequences. The treatment of arts, music, and vocational subjects such as carpentry, painting etc. as either co-curricular activities or extra-curricular activities resulted in these subjects receiving least priority, being looked down upon as irrelevant, and did not count towards helping students succeed academically. Students choose subjects out of necessity rather than interest. Students may recite the different kinds of wood, along with its properties and strengths, but since they have never taken a carpentry class, they can’t even build a simple stool.
Moreover, this inflexibility in choosing multiple learning trajectories also resulted in students prioritizing tech jobs in bigger cities over their family business in their home town. The current education policy created great employees at the cost of traditional entrepreneurship.
We have become a country that is amazing in implementing foreign ideas but is poor in scaling up its own ideas or original work.
We need a policy that bridges this gap and allows us to think global while act local.
Banabhatta’s Kadambari paves the way forward
The New Education Policy makes an attempt to address this gap. Chapter 11 of the policy introduces Offering a Holistic and Multidisciplinary education and provides reference to Banabhatta’s Kadambari (a novel from 7th century AD) in which
Good education is described as knowledge of the 64 “Kalaas” or Arts; that lays equal emphasis on learning subjects such as singing and painting, chemistry and mathematics, carpentry and clothes-making, medicine and engineering, communication and debate.
The new education policy states that “A holistic and multidisciplinary education, as described so beautifully in India ’s past, is indeed what is needed for the education of India to lead the country into the 21st century and the fourth industrial revolution. Even engineering institutions, such as IITs, will move towards more holistic and multidisciplinary education with more arts and humanities. Students of arts and humanities will aim to learn more science, and all will make an effort to incorporate more vocational subjects and soft skills”
The policy’s focus on holistic and multidisciplinary education is a step in the right direction. Allowing flexible and innovative curriculum which offers credits for vocational and community engagement projects, along with opportunities for internships with local industry, businesses, artists, and crafts persons, is indeed crucial to foster an Innovation mindset among young Indians.
A holistic multidisciplinary education could provide students: the necessary experience of manually cutting grass and appreciate the challenges, teach them the mechanics of a lawn-mover and how to overcome the manual challenges, and also encourage them to develop an Eco-friendly, less expensive, lawn-mower of the 21st century that is suited for the Indian market.
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