It’s a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. On the one hand, it’s well established that the nation’s education system is in a shambles. Rote learning and cramming for exams is the norm; 1.25 million school teachers are absent every day; the dumbed down government-dominated school system is characterised by ramshackle buildings, electricity, drinking water and sanitation lacunae; and learning outcomes are deplorable. The higher education system is hardly better. According to a 2005 Nasscom-McKinsey World Institute study, 75 percent of the country’s engineering and 85 percent of arts, science and commerce graduates are “unemployable”.
On the other hand, there’s no shortage of young achievers — doers, go-getters and enablers — in Indian society. Across the sub-continent there are tens of thousands of young (and other) citizens working against incredible odds — the law’s delay, the insolence and corruption of office, the proud man’s contumely in addition to the incompetent education system — to keep the flame of democracy burning and economic growth ticking at a handsome 8-9 percent per year. Quite obviously deep within Indian society and largely unsung, there are millions of citizens who by sheer dint of self-study and application are devising socio-economic and intellectual solutions, enabling continuous progress and development of the country.
These musings spring to mind every year when the process of inviting nominations, short-listing, selecting and celebrating the GlobalScholar-EducationWorld Young Achievers begins in October. These annual awards, instituted to encourage, enable and celebrate young achievers across the country, were conceptualised five years ago together with the well-known Bangalore-based IT services corporate Infosys Technologies. But two years ago despite its unwarranted income-tax free status which enables it to save thousands of crores per year, the company experienced a financial stringency and dropped out of the partnership. Its position as sponsor was readily taken by the perhaps less successful but more magnanimous, Seattle/Chennai-based GlobalScholar, whose chief executive Kalyan (‘Kal’) Raman is a quintessential young achiever in his own right. This month’s cover story which profiles India’s top young achievers in music and the arts; science, maths and technology; sports, and social work categories, once again highlights the great Indian paradox of outstanding young achievers emerging from a dysfunctional and barren education system. Their courage, fortitude and persistence in search of excellence as recounted in our cover story, inspires hope that all is far from lost.
Sentiments of hope and well-being that readers are likely to experience by reading our inspirational cover story will be reinforced by this month’s special report feature, which recounts the Indian establishment’s belated discovery of the socio-economic value of vocational education. Although VET (vocational education and training) is old hat and has been thoroughly integrated into the education systems of industrial nations, it’s been the blindspot of Indian educationists and omniscient central planners. But this time round, India Inc is involved and there’s real seriousness about rolling out VET institutions countrywide. For further details about the imminent VET revolution in Indian education, read our detailed special report feature.
