We all know that education should be holistic. The word “holistic” not only involves development of a child in dimensions of personality and character but also enhancement in his “employability factor”. Holistic education also involves creating responsible adults and a vibrant workforce of future leaders who are well prepared to deal with the challenges that we all know lie ahead.
Knowledge has to be followed by inspired action to realize one’s dreams and desires. This kind of mindset is required to be developed in every individual from an early age. In order that the students ultimately realize their inner potential and take it to its highest level, the academia has to do much more than just perfunctorily carryout the task of teaching and perpetuating rote learning.
Rather than just producing graduates, we need to pay attention to producing employable graduates ready to take anchor as global citizens. I have often heard a much repeated argument that the industry and the corporate world must interact more closely with academia for building future synergies. I believe that just the reverse is true. We always put the cart behind the horse and not vice versa. It is for the academia to take all possible initiatives to interact more closely with the industry to fully understand what they truly require in their hires and then set themselves to go about it.
Another dimension which gets over looked is the tremendous pressure exerted by the social aspirations of the people at large notwithstanding the present divide between the rural, semi-urban and the urban population. Overlooking this would be tantamount to relegating the educational institution to some obscure entity having no touch with the changed reality of the 21st Century.
Suddenly a lot has to be done immediately. For the students, we need to immediately put a plan into action in order to:
Needless to say, the above is possible only by able to trained faculty. Simultaneously a faculty development curriculum has to be developed on war footing so that the teachers can also be ready for the task ahead.
At Pragati College,I have initiated the above process despite the limitations of outdated mindsets and regulations and despite the restrictions of universal constraints like time, space and resource.
Incremental thinking will not do anymore. Incremental mindset has to be replaced by aspirational mindset. In this endeavor, I seek support from one and all – from the powers that be, from faculty, from parents and larger community at large.