During his recent India visit, Google CEO Sundar Pichai spoke of how India’s education system would do well to emphasise greater creativity and risk-taking. We ought to listen. There is perhaps no other country in the world that glorifies examination results and starting salaries the way we do. In most cultures it’s a bit rude to talk about these things even in private. But in India, it’s the stuff of front-page, prime-time news. Buses and outdoor hoardings are plastered with images of top rankers who have “cracked” significant exams and “aced” standardised tests. We put starting salaries and entrance exams on a pedestal and force a singular definition of success down our collective throats. Is the purpose of education really to max standardised tests and rake in the cash? Most Indian parents today, themselves products of a top-down, instructional model of education, replete with corporal punishment, mindless cramming, and regurgitation of facts, would ag...
Learning and Information Resource Centre of SFIT...