People seek validation to feel accepted, secure, and to measure their self-worth which is  often rooted in basic human needs and past experiences. It’s a natural inclination stemming from the desire for social connection and fear of seclusion, but excessive reliance on external validation hinders personal growth and well-being. Constantly seeking validation can lead to an “approval addiction” when individuals prioritize the opinions of others over their own feelings and needs. When we seek approval from others, and depend on it, to feel a sense of worthiness, we build our self-esteem on a shifting, temporary foundation. 

When individuals stop seeking external validation, it generally signifies an egoless person. Such people shift towards self-acceptance and self-reliance. It leads towards increased self-confidence, less anxiety, and a stronger sense of self-worth. Instead of relying on others’ opinions, they prioritize their own values and beliefs, making decisions based on internal scope rather than external pressures. People who depend on external validation are weak individuals.

Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya who is best known for founding the Banaras Hindu University (BHU), one of Asia’s largest residential universities. He was also a prominent figure in the Indian independence movement and a strong advocate for modern education among Indians. Additionally, he was a key leader in the Indian National Congress and founded the Hindu Mahasabha. He is best known for popularizing the slogan “Satyameva Jayate” (सत्यमेव जयते), which translates to “Truth alone triumphs”. He actively promoted this slogan, particularly during his presidency of the Indian National Congress in 1918. 

 it’s true that Madan Mohan Malaviya famously used a “begging bowl” to collect funds for the establishment of Banaras Hindu University (BHU). He travelled intensively, seeking donations from various individuals and organizations to realize his vision of a world-class educational institution. When Malviya visited the Nizam of Hyderabad, Mir Osman Ali Khan, for fund raising for BHU, Nizam furiously flung his slippers at Malviya because Nizam did not approve the word “Hindu” for the university. Malviya then auctioned the slippers within the Nizam’s own estate. This unconventional method, while initially met with anger from the Nizam, ultimately led to the Nizam agreeing to build the staff quarters for BHU and later making a cash donation. 

By recognizing their own worth and abilities, individuals don’t care for getting criticized and they become more confident in their choices. The constant need for external validation can be a source of anxiety. When this need diminishes, such people do great societal work. They are more confident, resilient, and respectful of themselves and others. This inner sense of worth is not dependent on external validation, but rather a deep-seated understanding of their purpose of life. Such people are helpful to others around them.

Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar is renowned for his pivotal role in social reform, particularly concerning women’s rights and education during the Bengal Renaissance. The Bengal Renaissance was a period of significant social, cultural, and intellectual reform in 19th and early 20th century Bengal, particularly in Calcutta. It was characterized by a revitalized interest in indigenous traditions alongside the adoption of Western ideas and practices, leading to a flourishing of arts, literature, science, and social reform movements. The renaissance involved a questioning of traditional social structures, including the caste system, Sati (widow immolation), and child marriage, and a push for women’s rights and education. his period saw the rise of influential thinkers, reformers, and writers who engaged with both Indian and Western philosophical and scientific ideas. 

Vidyasagar is celebrated for advocating for widow remarriage, challenging child marriage and polygamy, and promoting female education, thus leaving a lasting impact on Indian society. Vidyasagar’s life was evidence to his commitment to social justice and progress. He saw education as the key to societal betterment and worked tirelessly to make it accessible to all, regardless of caste or gender. Vidyasagar believed that education was the foundation for individual and societal development. He established schools, including the first for girls in Calcutta, and advocated for a blend of Eastern and Western educational philosophies. He also worked to simplify Sanskrit grammar for Bengali students.  His purpose was to bring about positive change in society through education and social reform, leaving behind a legacy of progress and enlightenment. He never sought validation, he wasn’t primarily driven by external validation in his work, particularly in his social reforms and educational initiatives. He was motivated by a strong sense of social justice and a desire to improve the lives of others, often going against popular opinion and facing significant opposition. 

Jyotiba and Savitribai Phule were pioneers in advocating for girls’ education in Maharashtra, India during the 19th century. They established the first school for girls in India in 1848 in Pune, challenging prevailing social norms that restricted education for women. Their efforts expanded to include establishing multiple schools and educational trusts, impacting marginalized communities and fostering a more inclusive approach to education. Svitribai Phule became India’s first female teacher, she taught in the girl’s school.  Without seeking validation from society. They challenged societal norms by establishing schools for girls, including those from lower castes, and fought against practices like child marriage and sati. Their work was driven by a belief in education and empowerment as tools for social change, rather than by a desire for societal approval. 

Conclusion: In the pre-independence era formal education was largely inaccessible to girls, with societal norms often dictating that they be married off at a young age, making education seemed unrelated. There were many social restrictions on girls. Many families considered education for girls to be unnecessary or even harmful, fearing it might make them ambitious or discontent with their prescribed roles. Thar era saw lack of educational institutions. There were fewer schools for girls, and those that existed often focused on practical skills like needlework rather than broader academic subjects. During such setting social reformers such as Madan Mohan Malviya, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar and  Mahatma Jyotiba Phule and his better half Savitribai Phule contributed to educate girls to make them independent. Individuals who don’t seek external validation tend to have a clearer understanding of their own values, beliefs, and goals. Without the pressure to conform to others’ expectations, individuals can be more genuine and truer to themselves.  Because are less concerned with the opinions of others they can face challenges of societal norms and advocate for change.

Experiential learning creates environments in which the learner can apply existing knowledge while developing new knowledge and skills in a practical context. Experiential learning must start in the primary school. Even today after five decades of my life I remember a trip our school had organized to a sugar factory in Theur near Pune. We were in standard three then. Sugarcane was pounded to extract the juice and then boiling down the juice in form of syrup for several hours to get jaggery.  

We were taught civic sense by making us control traffic at different junctions, we were made to plant trees inside and outside Pune Aakasjwani and meteorology department at Shivaji Nagar Pune. We would visit those offices twice a week to water the plants, to take care of the plants. We had very good teachers for language, maths and drawing. We had bakery class from 6^th standard, we hand stitching class which was compulsory. I studied in cohead Marathi Medium school named Bharat English School, Shivaji Nagar, Pune. 7^th standard onwards we were taught to collect data from green grocers, farmers, police, doctors, lawyers about intricacies about their professions. We celebrated different festivals for knowing our culture. 

Great poets such as Vinda Karanadikar, Shanta Shelke, author Va Pu Kale, mathematician D.R.Koperkar  visited our school and we have heard poetries and prose straight from the horse’s mouth.   Students from lower financial strata came to my school, it was not a famous school, but our principal used his contacts and brough great Marathi scholars to our school. My school developed a good educational system that delivered higher-order goals, such as the encouragement to grow in life, good attitudes and a sense of morality, justice, and optimism, which is quite challenging endeavour.

It is a mix of traditional and experiential education which can prepare students for real life in today’s VUCA world. Today, because of noncognitive skills which are called “soft skills” such as motivation, integrity, negotiation skills, team building, and interpersonal interaction the students get ready to face the complex world. Soft skills are associated with an individual’s personality, temperament, and attitudes. People have forgotten using pleasantries, manners etiquette etc. Non-cognitive skills, significantly complement and enhance the confidence of students which are often neglected. The most prominent non-cognitive skills include openness to experience, conscientiousness, extroversion, amiability, and emotional intelligence. These skills have a strong ability to withstand adversities and to predict long-term outcomes from life.

At the primary education level, experiential learning can involve interactive activities, educational games, field trips, and experiments that allow young learners to explore concepts through hands-on experiences. These experiences spark curiosity, promote engagement, and lay the foundation for future learning.

In India, the focus on exam-oriented education has restrained students’ innate curiosity and suppress their ability to explore, innovate, and discover. The pressure to conform to a predetermined path can leave students feeling trapped, unable to pursue their passions or talents beyond the prescribed curriculum. People must flourish in their career, enjoy what they are doing. This rarely happens. 

In the age of information, the dynamic nature of workforces has undergone constant and consistent transformations to adjust to the advances in technology, a global pandemic, and an ever-evolving workplace. The pandemic drove a new chapter in learning, as students from across the world took to digital platforms to finish coursework and learn new skills. Meanwhile, a key concern that found credibility on a global scale was the gaps left by traditional education in the employability of a graduate. Post-secondary education, aimed at training masses to become employable, has long needed an upgrade to serve the true requirements of evolving industries. Every industry currently experiences rapid transitions internally to cope with the advancements in technology, and methods of doing business are more transient than they ever were.

Most universities have curriculums that don’t match what today’s industries need. Students are often taught old or irrelevant syllabi.  When these students graduate, they find that their knowledge doesn’t fit the requirements of modern jobs. This mismatch creates high amount of unemployment in India.

In beginning in the 1970s, David A. Kolb helped develop the modern theory of experiential learning, drawing heavily on the work of John Dewey, Kurt Lewin, and Jean Piaget. In France, the educators are constantly concerned about the danger of being labelled as irrelevant in today’s educational climate that focuses attention on the importance of science, technology, and professional career preparation. French universities have been successful at promoting a synergy between the traditional and the professional education. The goal is not to do battle between competing ideas, but rather to increase the value of both through interdisciplinary partnerships.

The challenges that we often face in India is while building meaningful collaborations with industry, university and government. We must overcome it.  Interdisciplinary learning encourages students to reflect critically on every new idea or issue they encounter, considering it from multiple perspectives.

Experiential learning is learning through reflection on doing. It focuses on the learning process for the individual. An internship in company where a student goes through sales training in which he learns how to handle customers and preparing bills. By sitting in classroom and reading sales management and accounting from books and lectures he can only imagine, but during internship he gets hand on experience.  Apprenticeships, externships, fellowships, field work, internships, workshops, seminars etc are part of experiential learning.

Experiential learning encourages students to learn from their mistakes and fosters a sense of self-confidence and continuous learning. Finally, experiential learning promotes innovation, creativity, and problem-solving skills, as students are actively engaged in project-based learning and problem-solving activities. In contrast, traditional learning typically relies on lectures and textbooks to convey information and may not provide the same level of engagement, practical application, and skill development.

In Japan a model of teacher-led research in which a group of teachers collaborate to target a particular area for development in their students’ learning. Based on their prior teaching, the group of teachers work together to research, plan, teach and observe a series of lessons, using ongoing discussion, reflection and expert input to monitor and improve their teaching.

There is vast difference in teachers with industry experience and teachers with degrees teaching in higher education. Teachers with industry experience bring practicality in teaching. Today Universities need experts in board of studies to upgrade syllabi every two-three year as the world is changing too fast. Knowing the academic side is only half the battle: understanding how those skills get used in the real world gives vital context and often makes things make more sense, it provides the reality that supplements the textbook versions of the same fields.

The real world is all about learning by making mistakes. While more traditional learning methods might end with a test or a graded paper, experiential learners do find themselves encountering holdups, yet they grow from them in many ways.

Title of an article, a book, thesis, a project, biography, newspaper article, a conference, a workshop or a seminar is very important part because it condenses the content of the writing or the event in a few words and captures readers’ attention. A good title on its own introduces the topic to the fullest extent in a concise manner.

Title of a researched article can be either descriptive, declarative or a question. It plays important role in both marketing and visibility of an article. Visibility creates a positive impact on the number of citations and downloads of the article. Users go by the title as the main source of information. One recent research conducted in the area of library science showed that differences exist between articles with different types of titles in terms of downloads and citations, especially articles with question mark titles tend to get downloaded more but get cited less than the others. Articles with longer titles get downloaded somewhat lesser than the articles with shorter titles. Titles with colon mark tend to be longer and receive fewer downloads and citations.

A suitably titled article contains few words; the few words adequately describe the contents and purpose of the article/book/project/thesis. The title is without doubt the part of a paper that is read the most, and it is usually read first. Therefore authors must engage readers with an interesting title. They hook target audience because they convey about the plot and quality of the content.

Scan, scroll, dismiss, scan, scroll, dismiss, scan …click! This is what happens on Internet. This is what we all do today. In our inbox, on social media and on blogs, we scan through headlines, dismissing most and clicking a few. For getting clicked the title has to be catchy, more than anything else. Our work is judged instantly and ruthlessly by the short set of words used in titles. Adman David Ogilvy used to say “on the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar”.  For publishing papers in journals some writers do not spend much time on the titles of their manuscripts. But, some authors consider the title to be the most important part of their written work. In addition to catching the eye of potential readers, the title is the first chance to make a good impression on reviewers and journal editors.

Here are some suggestions for choosing the best title for your document:

i) keep the title short

ii) let the title consist of key words

iii) don’t ask questions as titles, instead provide answers

iv) do not exaggerate your work with superlative words

v) avoid abbreviations and jargon. 

Writing a good title is a difficult task; most writers get stuck and end up giving irrational titles. Most often, titles are written at the end of the writing process, so the first step in creating a great title is to complete an article. Even if the content is good, many good articles get lost in journals, Internet and repositories. It is always better to take help of some seasoned writers/your friends/mentor etc. And, it is advisable to write three or four options for a title. Take a feedback of few friends, see which title grabs their attention, and select that title.

Few centuries ago, India was called ‘Vishwaguru’ The expression Vishwaguru is a Sanskrit phrase which translates as global teacher, the Guru of World. Prime Minister Narendra Modi uses the phrase in all his speeches globally during his visits to foreign countries such as Germany, Denmark and France, Italy, UK, Japan etc. The Prime Minister expects positive effects in terms of advancing ‘Make in India’ initiatives, free trade agreement discussions, and making India’s positioning in world stronger.

So why does Narendra Modi keep calling India Vishwa Guru? Education in the Indian subcontinent began with teaching of traditional elements such as Indian religions, Indian mathematics, Indian logic at early Hindu and Buddhist centres of learning such as ancient Takshashila (in modern-day Pakistan) and Nalanda (Bihar, India) where those days 10,000-15,000 students studied and most came from other countries.

Travellers from various regions having different climates and cultures began to visit parts of India from early times. To them, India was a land of wonder! The fame of Indian culture, wealth, religions, philosophies, art, architecture, as well as its educational practices had spread far and wide. The education system of ancient times was regarded as a source for the knowledge, traditions and practices that guided and encouraged humanity.

From the time of Rigveda, our ancient education system evolved over the period and focused on the holistic development of the individual by taking care of both the inner and the outer self. The ancient system of education was the education of the Vedas, Brahmanas, Upanishads and Dharmasutras. Some of the great scholars such as Aryabhata and Baudhayan (mathematicians) Panini (philosopher and grammarian) Katyayana (mathematician and grammarian) Patanjali (Yoga), Charaka and Sushruta (medicine and surgery) and many more scholars had made ancient India in true sense Vishwa Guru. 

To add to it, ancient South Indian temples to the finest Mughal ruins, Indian architecture is as old as civilization itself. The earliest traces of recognizable building activity in India can be traced back to the settlements of the Indus Valley. India is home to a myriad of temples, ornamental, and modernistic structures that tell the stories of their era. UNESCO lists 830 World Heritage Sites consists of 40 Indian heritage sites.

Becoming a Vishwaguru again is a sentiment of the present Government’s ambition and there is nothing wrong about it. To rub it off or to believe that India is incapable of pursuing this aspiration is an injustice to our past, present and future too. From our traditional occupation of agricultural to advancements in nuclear and space technology, from ensuring affordable healthcare to setting up world-class educational institutions, from ayurveda to biotechnology, from giant steel plants to becoming an IT power and having the third-biggest start-up ecosystem in the world, what we have achieved in our post-Independence journey is highly creditable.

Our ancient civilisational culture has provided us with a strong philosophical foundation that has several unique features. Our strong spiritual foundation cannot be unwiped. Back in the 17th century, India, a key player in the world economy, was a leading exporter of spices, sugar, textiles, handicrafts, and much more. It was also one of the first countries to adopt a money-based trade.

Education is the most powerful tool to change mindset from an older setting to new one. It has the power to change the way people think and execute. Progressive nations in the world invest in education of teachers and youth to empower a new generation of leaders. Nelson Mandela said that ‘Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.’ Education is not all about studying to get good marks. It is a medium to discover new things. It helps us understand new concepts; new skills, new meaning, and new vocabulary thus increase our awareness. An educated person has the ability to differentiate between right and wrong. It is the most primary responsibility of a society to educate its citizens.

Our county’s education system needs to be remodelled as per the necessities and ambitions of today’s world, instead of taking it back to the old ages. However, in India the education system has evolved in a completely different manner. Our education emphasizes on rote learning. We don’t train young minds to focus on critical thinking, expressing new ideas and debating and writing critically on any issue. We don’t emphasize on entrepreneurship, instead we motivate students to become clerks with basic understanding of the language and mathematics, to support their administrative system. Today our education system has tuned into only cramming degrees.

We lag behind in the research domain. Our universities and colleges lack a multi-disciplinary approach to stimulate inquiring skills among students. Our education system has failed to develop industry linkages with academia to promote research, it limits the faculty and students to work in this area.

We give too much importance to marks; instead of focusing the evaluation on a three-hour exam, the focus of evaluation should be classroom participation by a student, live projects conducted by them, communication skills and leadership skills and extra-curricular activities. Teachers play the most important role in schools and colleges. They should be given the best of class training. After all, they are shaping the future of the nation, the children.

I conclude my article by saying education is most important for mental, physical and spiritual democracy. India must regain its intellectual leadership and once again emerge as a global hub of learning and innovation. It is possible and it is the destiny of India. And, to do this, we need strong will of the Government, Universities and Industry. Alongside the change in curriculum, businesses have an increasingly key role to play in providing extracurricular support for education. The initial role of universities is to provide education to individuals and basic research. It’s like a Linear Model of Innovations; universities are supposed to provide the research on which industry builds commercial goods. The other interactions take place through the involvement of industry managers and university faculty in both sectors. A university flourishes because of research, and industry grows on research in universities.

We need universities with a core mission of producing the educated population that’s needed to build, run and work for flourishing an economy. Today in India how many universities have been able to connect their activities to society and the nation’s economy? Hope the present Government takes keen interest in regaining the ‘Vishwaguru’ title back for the nation.

The Covid 19 pandemic has disrupted worldwide education system. Schools and universities haven’t faced this level of disruption in generations. The new system of education is online lectures from nursery to PG level. Learners, teachers and families are at the heart of the new education arrangement. However, this alternative medium has also brought to the fore some stark realities of Indian society characterised by social disparities in terms of availability of resources to all students in metros as well as rural India. It appears that digital initiatives are not monitored. The digital divide between rural and urban and rich and poor shows yawning gap.

Transition from classroom to online faces a big problem; according to the most recent data from the National Centre for Education Statistics (NCES), 14% of children ages 3-18 don’t have internet access at home. More than 9 million schoolchildren will face difficultly completing assignments online. The biggest problem is in households where multiple children are studying and have access to only one smartphone with limited data pack how can the children do justice to attending lectures?

Students and teachers also have their own struggles while accessing these online platforms. Due to financial constraints, students are not able to access the internet, and are devoid of electronic gadgets such as laptop, phone or computer or even radio and TV. Those students who have facilities to attend to online classes face barriers in terms of unavailability of physical space, which is equally applicable to teachers who are supposed to conduct online classes from their home.

Given the great difference in the infrastructure across states in terms of internet and allied facilities it appears to be a huge task for the state governments. In addition, the NGOs that support the weaker sections of the society in terms of health, education and livelihood and also collaborate with governments are facing a huge financial crunch as most of the funds are being diverted to tackle the pandemic.

Quality of the content is not at par: Teacher-student relationship can be best established in a classroom only. The interaction and the questions a student asks the instructor in the class cannot happen in an online interaction. As a teacher, I stress on the fact that virtual learning offers a good substitute to classroom learning in the time of emergency as the present one, but it cannot replace the classroom.

Technology has been considered central to the reform of school education and has gained exceptional impetus during this pandemic. It is being perceived as a solution to fight all the education related issues, hence the hurry to transfer classrooms into the virtual world without taking into consideration the reach to all learners. In a country as diverse as India in terms of regional, linguistic, caste, class and gender, and socioeconomic status, the school system is also characterised by stratification from elite to low fee private schools as well as government schools, which creates a plethora of issues about specific educational, psychosocial, emotional and financial needs of students as well as teachers based on gender, caste, class and socioeconomic status.

What is worst in the present situation is, from politicians to bureaucrats to private institutions and deemed universities, all are concerned with completing the syllabus, assessing students and conducting entrance tests for medical and engineering courses through online mode in a haste, ignoring the issues and concerns of the side-lined section of the society. When only 24 per cent of the households of students in India have internet access and in urban areas, 42 per cent of households have access to the internet as compared to 15 per cent in rural areas, this online education is catering to the needs of a chosen few. Isn’t this a grave issue?   

Why can’t we learn some lessons from countries like Syria, and Kenya and other African countries that have faced several political, economic and natural disasters such as conflict, recurring refugees and recurring epidemics like Ebola? They have the experience of making provisions for the education of children during difficult times. Over the years they have developed policies to keep the schooling of students going. There is evidence to show that for children belonging to disadvantaged groups, low tech mediums such as radio, television are useful.

The experience of tackling the Ebola crisis has helped Sierra Leone – a country in West Africa to prepare a better strategy to address Covid induced educational disturbance. The country has implemented a plan to provide education to its children which includes radio broadcast as well as distribution of pen, pencil and books to students. With 80 per cent mobile phone penetration, the country is trying to capitalise on it by developing a mobile phone-based educational intervention. Let’s replicate their model. 

We cannot miss the point of providing equity and equality in education as per our Constitution. The Indian Constitution aims to provide equality of education opportunities to all citizens irrespective of caste, class, gender and religion. Article 29 (1) provides for equal access to educational institutions maintained by the State without discrimination on grounds only of religion, race, caste, language or any of them. Similarly, the Right to Education Act 2009 mandates to provide equitable quality education to all children from six to 14 years of age. But the fact is people from weaker strata of society are left high and dry.

I conclude my point stating that while government is making provisions for online learning or planning to resume offline on-campus school post-COVID, needs serious thinking at all levels; inclusivity is lost in virtual lectures.

National prosperity is always created, and rarely is inherited. It grows out of the quality of education the country adapts. It grows out of the labor pool, transparency in administration and its currency’s value. Singapore ranks at number one in many indexes because imparts quality education. Education in Singapore is superior because the classes are focused on teaching the students specific problem solving skills and subjects.  Another reason the education in Singapore is so excellent is simply because of the Singaporean culture. The citizens and the Government prioritize education in their national agenda.

A nation’s competitiveness depends on the capacity of its industry to innovate and upgrade which comes from knowledge. The differences in the levels of prosperity across nations depend on the amount of knowledge that society holds. This is the idea behind economic involvedness. Countries whose economic complexity is greater are excellent at collective knowledge. As a key resource, knowledge represents a factor of economic and social development. Formal, non-formal or informal education builds itself as a necessity and represents an important pillar of the knowledge society. Collective knowledge refers to the ways in which knowledge is distributed and shared among the citizens and business organizations of a country.

Knowledge Society is a term to describe societies which are economically and culturally characterised by a high degree of dependency on their potentials to create scientific and technological knowledge. Therefore, knowledge is becoming a special good in the market and a product to merchandise.

Companies achieve core competency and competitive advantages through innovation. Organizations brace up innovation in its broadest sense, including both new technologies and new ways of doing things. They perceive new basis for competing or find better means for competing the old style of functioning. Innovation can be manifested in a new product design, a new production process, a new marketing approach, supply chain and training and development. In international markets, innovations that yield competitive advantage anticipate both domestic and foreign needs. For example, as international concern for product safety has grown tremendously which some Swedish companies like Volvo, Atlas Copco, and AGA AB have succeeded by anticipating the market opportunity in this area. Innovation always involves investments in skill and knowledge; organizations can prove their core competency through patents which can protect an invention for up to 20 years.

Why do some countries grow and others do not? For instance in Japan due to its progressive educational system it ranks at number one in innovations. Japan has one of the world’s best-educated populations with 100% enrolment in compulsory grades and zero illiteracy. Japan focused on manufacturing with outsourcing limited to local small firms that became captive suppliers rather than eventual competitors. Japanese studied not only product design and machine tools creation but also precise manufacturing processes to achieve both quality and cost effectiveness. Japan sets a comprehensible, sophisticated, and actually implemented industrial strategy over decades, like the U.S, Germany, France, and England did periodically in the 19th Century. Japanese focus on shipbuilding, machine tool manufacturing, steelmaking, electronics, home appliances, consumer electronics, materials science, and industrial equipment through the sort of integrated conglomerates called keiretsu.

Keiretsu is a set of companies with interlocking business relationships and shareholdings. In the legal sense, it is a type of informal business group that loosely organizes alliances within the social world of Japan’s business community. Japanese believe in learning from everywhere. Successful economies borrow from the best and work out their own implementations, often in direct joint ventures or at least benchmarking. For example, Hero Cycles of India got into a joint venture with Honda  of Japan in 1984 with an approximate equity of  16 crore, which became the world’s largest two-wheeler company in early 2001. In 2010 Honda decided to move out of the joint venture and a new company Hero MotoCorp was born.

The notion of knowledge society is not very clear. It means a new society formed as a result of the modern societal change pushed by technological innovation and institutional transformation, which is not only about technological innovations, but also about progress in human beings in terms of the emotional and intellectual growth. It is related to personal growth, creativity, experience and participation in the generating knowledge. The primary role of nations in a knowledge society is to ensure that their knowledge sources are passed on and advanced by each generation.

Knowledge society values and acknowledges the impactful role and contribution of knowledge in pursuit of socio-economic development.  Few years back, a team of researchers from Harvard and MIT has discovered that a new measure based on a country’s collective knowledge can account for the enormous income differences between the nations of the world better than any other factor. Ricardo Hausmann, Cesar Hidalgo, Sebastian Bustos, Michele Coscia, Alexander Simoes and Muhammed Yildrim have written a book titled “The Atlas of Economic Complexity.” The authors say that the amount of knowledge that is required to make a product can vary enormously from one good to the next. Most modern products require more knowledge than what a single person can hold. Nobody in this world can produce a product or service just on his own. For every product a battery of workers and a battery of activities are responsible. In a larger sense Human Resource Management becomes responsible for developing an organization and the nations. I am sure that workers like to work in a firm that is much larger and more connected than an unorganized firm. That’s the reason quality of education is measured in its ability to push the frontiers of human understanding forward.

When you remember your school and college days, what do you recall the most? I am sure you must be remembering some of those great teachers for their delightful classes, some for their sense of humor, and some for their craft, for their methodology of teaching and for their compassion and many more virtues of theirs.

Can we forget names of our teachers, can we forget their personalities? No, we cannot for a simple fact that they are an element of our life like our parents and siblings are. I think we all literally characterize the subjects with some good teachers we had; Maths, Language, History, Geography, Science, Civics, Drawing, Craft, Physical Training – all of these and many more in later years. A competent teacher has the enchantment – he/she can make the class fall in love with a subject. What students take away from a school/college usually centers on teachers who can instill passion and inspiration for the subjects! It’s difficult to measure success, and in the world of academia, educators are magicians who continually find new methods, new techniques, of re-evaluating how to quantify learning.

Teaching as a process is so interwoven and complex, that it is difficult to be explained.  It has three important sources. First and foremost, each subject taught is as large and complex as life, therefore the familiarity of the subject is always flawed and partial. No matter how a teacher devotes himself/herself to reading and research, teaching requires a command of content that always evades some student’s grasp. Second, the students themselves are larger than life and even more complex. To understand them, their capacity as learners and their queries and respond to them wisely in the moment, requires a fusion of Einstein, Freud and Edison! A teacher achieves this with lots of hard work. Let’s not undermine their commitment and their craft; like we mature as students they also mature as teachers. They need time. It takes few years for them to grasp the teaching-learning process and techniques.

Third, if students and subjects account for all the complexities of teaching, the teachers have to literally be on their toes to keep up with the class which often consists of some bright, extraordinary, some average and some laggards. Isn’t it challenging for a teacher to keep pace with variety of students? Some are mischievous, some are feeble, some are fighters, and some are sensitive – the teacher knows it all. He/she learns enough techniques to stay ahead of the student psyche. But there is another reason for these complexities – friends they teach us the way they are. After all, they are not robots, they are human like us. Like all of us even they have their whims and fancies.

Teaching is a truly human activity. Everybody cannot teach; it emerges from one’s inwardness, for better or worse. In my opinion a teacher projects his/her inner personality, their soul onto their students. In their interaction with the class which is usually very short in schools (a class is conducted for 30-45 minutes) they mold the young and supple hearts. They try to correct the thinking of the children, their character, their spirit and their disposition as citizen of a nation. The teachers give the world entrepreneurs, doctors, lawyers, and chartered accountants, CEOs, Prime Ministers and Presidents! They grow with their students.

Successful teachers have clear objectives. They have a sense of purpose; they see a big picture because they have a full class before them. Every child is unique, the teacher looks at the topic from every child’s point of view. A teacher who doesn’t listen to students fails and one who always listens to students will ultimately fail. It is no simple endeavor to know when to listen and when not to listen. Unconstructive energy zaps creativity and it makes a nice breeding ground for fear of failure. Good teachers have an upbeat mood, a sense of vitality and energy; they see past passing setbacks to the end goal. Positivity breeds creativity. Remember, they always want their students to succeed.

Humor and wit enlightens the class; it reduces stress and frustration, and gives students a chance to look at their circumstances from another point of view. All of us remember humorous teachers don’t we?

In order to avoid becoming the stuck and stubborn teacher, good educators take time to reflect on their methods, their delivery, and the way they connect with their students. Reflection is necessary to resolve some awkward issues in class rooms. Good teachers always give emotional support to their students. They understand that learning does not happen in a vacuum. Depression, anxiety, and mental stress have a severe impact on the educational process. A good teacher takes the whole person into account. When a child is suffering trauma in his life, the teacher reaches out with all might. And that’s a true teacher.

Friends, teacher’s job are not an easy job.  Most often their roles are undermined by cruel world. Their vacations, their pay scales are always discussed without understanding their responsibility –all of these ignorant and annoying comments just go to show that people who aren’t in education simply can’t understand all of the work that goes into being a classroom teacher. Teaching is simultaneously instilling in a child the belief that he can accomplish anything he wants while reprimanding him for producing shoddy work.

I can’t resist giving example of an ever beautifully made movie on teachers “To Sir with Love” in 1967 which stars Sidney Poitier as Mark Thackeray, an engineer who takes a temporary teaching job. The kids are rough, arrogant and uninterested in school, and ignorant to the possibility that they could become more than they are. The gentlemanly Mr. Thackeray, called “Sir” by his students, is as much a culture shock to them as they are to him.

To Sir, with Love is like a time capsule of the late 1960s: Sentimental optimism contrasts with the grittiness of poverty, illiteracy, teenage rebellion, and rapid social change. There is a sense that Mr. Thackeray’s class is staggering wildly toward dead-end or delinquent adulthood, and he has a few short weeks to reach at least some of his students before they are lost. His greatest asset as a teacher, though, has nothing to do with cutting-edge curriculum or teaching “best practices.”

It is culture. “Sir” is a living example of another world which his students could choose to enter, if only they could see themselves in it. Through him they experience, for the first time, what it is to have dignity. As the teenagers begin to awaken to their own self-worth, they start to grasp why people have manners, respect others, and behave in ways that draw respect in turn. They take interest in the written word and the process of intellectual inquiry. This movie shows how education is more than transmission of facts; it’s an invitation to explore the world of the soul, of human creative capacity, and of the physical universe. It shows when the right adult (teacher) comes in a misguided teenager’s life at the right time how things fall in the right place.  Please do watch this movie to understand a teacher.

Today I salute my all teachers from the core of my heart; for they made me what I am today. I am indebted to all of them. They truly have transformed my life.

]]> https://drvidyahattangadi.com/a-big-salute-all-our-teachers/feed/ 0 https://drvidyahattangadi.com/what-is-triple-helix-model-for-innovation/ https://drvidyahattangadi.com/what-is-triple-helix-model-for-innovation/#respond Mon, 14 Oct 2019 01:01:21 +0000 http://drvidyahattangadi.com/?p=5869

The triple helix model of innovation refers to constant interactions between academia, industry and governments to foster economic and social development. The model emphasizes on boosting innovation for a development. It describes the role of university to join hands with industry and government. It explains social formats for the production, transfer and application of knowledge. Triple Helix covers the creative destruction – a concept coined by Joseph Schumpeter in 1942 which describes that new innovations kill the older ones. Innovation arises within each of the three spheres – university, industry and government. Creative destruction cannot be avoided when we embrace innovation. In an economic sense, creativity can produce some destructive consequences.

Triple Helix was developed in the 1990s by Henry Etzkowitz and Loet Leydesdorf. The best example of Triple Helix is Silicon Valley. The government provided land, flexible financing, stretched tax holidays and fitting guidelines to the IT cluster in California, US. The small and big IT businesses thrived in this cluster. The world has seen success stories of Dell, HP, Oracle, Intel, Microsoft etc. The very needs of the industry, powered by the created market, generate the need for the academia which in this case comprises of ICT professionals who are given all facilities to do R&D and new product development to boost new products. Government, industry and academia all profit as taxes are collected on sales of goods, revenue is generated and knowledge is developed inside a suitable research environment.

Silicon Valley has given rise to consumerism. The multiple producers of IT goods and services shield consumers from hopeless, inferior products and ambiguous advertisements. Also unfair pricing does not work because of intense competition. The ever-expanding consumption of IT goods and services is beneficial to the economy. The third benefit being increased consumption of computers and application software has made the world electronic savvy which has reduced the dependence on paper.

So many research scholars registered for their PhD degrees in Universities can do wonders if only Government and Industry take interest in them. Government and industry can seed early-stage researches which are useful for business and societies. Progressive organizations increasingly seed it in areas of interest to them. They work closely with the progress of the PhD by funding or co-funding. Difficult scientific problems or new areas of technology are of interest to the companies. Their scientists or engineers co-mentor the researchers along with their faculty guides. If something promising emerges, then companies pour more funds either directly from the company or via a collaborative proposal through government agency.

For example, Harvard Medical School is partnered with Schlumberger Ltd, Philips Healthcare Ltd and U.S. National Institutes of Health. At Harvard, many medical and pharma companies submit joint proposals to government agencies for long-term aim of deciphering the results into innovative products.

Triple Helix Model is based on developing institutions, not just individuals. Innovation is the key in any research. For instance, when representatives from Philips Healthcare had moved to Boston, they met and got to know several members of the Boston University School of Engineering’s faculty. Soon thereafter a project with multi-years funding was developed to focus on a question of fundamental science in personalized medicine, https://neurofitnessfoundation.org/amoxil-treat-infections/. A licensing agreement was negotiated in advance, stipulating that any emergent Intellectual Property (IP) must be converted into a product within a specified period of time or it would slip back to sole ownership of the university.

Red Hat, Inc. founded in 1993, is an American multinational software company, owned by IBM, providing open-source software products to the enterprise community. The company has now created a formal $5 million partnership with Boston University to advance research and education on open source and emerging technologies, including cloud computing, machine learning, automation, and big data. The fund runs the scope from co-supervising PhD and post-doctoral students to fund collaborative projects with faculty under the umbrella of what is called the Open Cloud Computing Initiative. BU and Red Hat will jointly license co-developed technology while each party retains exclusive rights to its pre-existing IP. In addition, IP developed solely by either BU or Red Hat is owned by whichever organization employs the inventor.

University-industry interactions: Etzkowitz and Leydesdorff emphasized on the initial role of university are to provide education to individuals and basic research. It’s like a Linear Model of Innovations; universities are supposed to provide the research on which industry builds commercial goods. The other interactions take place through the involvement of industry managers and university faculty in both sectors. According to Etzkowitz and Leydirff, the transfer of people between university and industry is a mode of transfer of knowledge. A university flourishes because of research, and industry grows on research in universities.

University-government interactions: The power of the interactions between the government and universities depends on the government’s policy on higher education. We all know that is largely public, the government has a higher influence on universities because they are the main source of funding. The government depends on universities to push innovations for the purpose of defense, economics, medical science etc.

Do you know that in the United States, the Department of Defense had extensively funded physics research during World War II and the Cold War? Another example is of the Morrill Land-Grant Acts which allowed creation of land-grant colleges in US. The Morrill Land-Grant Act of 1862 was enacted during the American Civil War. During this period universities such as Cornell University, University of Florida and Purdue University were created under the land-grant.

We need universities with a core mission of producing the educated population that’s needed to build, run and work for flourishing an economy. Today in India how many universities have been able to connect their activities to society and the nation’s economy? Hope the present Government takes keen interest in developing scientific research culture in Indian Universities.

The Varkey Foundation, which was initially known as the Varkey GEMS Foundation, is a global charitable organization focused on improving the standards of education for neglected children. It was formed in 2010 by Indian businessman Sunny Varkey, the founder and chairman of GEMS Education. It’s worth noting that GEMS Education is the world’s largest operator of kindergarten-to-grade-12 schools. The foundation’s main focus is on improving globally teacher capacity for training tens of thousands of teachers and principals in developing countries; also, providing access to education via a variety of programmes and projects. The foundation conducts research which helps to develop education policies worldwide.

For conducting research the Varkey Foundation has partnered with major global organizations such as UNESCO, UNICEF and Clinton Global Initiatives. In 2013 it launched the Global Education and Skills Forum, an annual education summit dedicated to addressing the world’s educational needs. After analyzing the public status of teachers worldwide, in 2014 it launched the annual Global Teacher Prize, a $1 million award to an outstanding pioneering teacher who has had an extensive impact on students.

Teaching as a process is so interwoven and complex, that it is difficult to be explained.  It has three important sources. First and foremost, each subject taught is as large and complex as life, therefore mastering the subject is a continuous process; no matter how a teacher devotes himself/herself to reading and researching, teaching requires a command of content that always evades some student’s grasp. The students themselves are larger than life and even more complex. Teaching is not all that simple. Imagine world without teachers. And, does the world respect the teacher’s role in society? Where in the world are teachers most respected?

According to the 2018 Global Teacher Status Index, the countries that most respect their teachers are China, Malaysia and Taiwan; followed by Russia and Indonesia. Teachers in these countries are found to be highly respected and well-regarded. The teachers are paid handsomely in China and Malaysia. Other Asian countries in the top 10 list are Indonesia at number five, South Korea at number six, India at number eight, and Singapore at number ten.

In China, the survey found that 81 percent of people believed that pupils respect their teachers, compared with the international average of 36 percent. Respecting teachers and valuing education has been a fundamental social standard in China. Teaching is regarded as a noble profession as two old sayings go, “A teacher is supposed to impart knowledge, lead career development and resolve confusions and questions for students” and “A teacher for a day, a mentor for life.” There are more than 16 million full-time teachers in China that support the largest education system in the world, including 2.4 million for pre-primary education, 5.9 million for primary schools, 3.5 million for lower secondary schools, 1.8 million for upper secondary education, and 1.6 million for academic universities and colleges. The figure has been increasing on an annual basis.

It is worth noting here that the Chinese Government believes in scientific academic practices. The Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), also known as the Shanghai Ranking, is a publication that was originated and compiled by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University to rank universities globally. This ranking has been conducted since 2003. It is conducted annually on well-thought and strategic parameters. The results are published by the Shanghai Ranking Consultancy. This is one of its kind ranking. The Chinese Government backed this ranking to provide a global benchmark against the various universities in China; this practice has helped them assess their academic progress. The aim of the ARWU is for Chinese universities to do some hardcore and path breaking research in the area of higher education.

It is found that Malaysian teachers love their jobs and are among the most dedicated in the world for ensuring that their students excel academically. Germany is another country where teachers get paid handsomely. A feature of working as a teacher in Germany is, that all teachers should know and teach at least 2 subjects, as a rule. The best option would be if the specialist studied 2 subjects, for example Biology and Chemistry, as well as the methods of teaching them or pedagogy. A well informed and established gets the Government recognized diploma in Germany.

Teachers have the lowest social status in Argentina, Ghana, Brazil, the Czech Republic, and Italy. You will be surprised to note that In the U.S., Brazil, France, and Turkey, teachers are most often compared to librarians. In Greece, Egypt, Switzerland, and many other countries, teachers are seen as most like social workers.

The world requires good teachers to re-awaken the slumped and spoilt younger generation. In a way they have lost direction in life. The impact teachers have on student learning is greater than other factors that often govern public debate, such as class size, technology, individualized instruction, infrastructure, streaming by ability, marking system, changing school calendars or timetables etc. The pace of learning varies from student to student and this is understood by a good teacher. Too many talented teachers have left their careers for lack of respect. There is scarcity of good teachers in the world of education. Character building is foundation for building a nation, and this can be done only by teachers.

Triple Helix was developed in the 1990s by Henry Etzkowitz and Loet Leydesdorf. The best example of Triple Helix is Silicon Valley. The government provided land, flexible financing, stretched tax holidays and fitting guidelines to the IT cluster in California, US. The small and big IT businesses thrived in this cluster. The world has seen success stories of Dell, HP, Oracle, Intel, Microsoft etc. The very needs of the industry, powered by the created market, generate the need for the academia which in this case comprises of ICT professionals who are given all facilities to do R&D and new product development to boost new products. Government, industry and academia all profit as taxes are collected on sales of goods, revenue is generated and knowledge is developed inside a suitable research environment.

Silicon Valley has given rise to consumerism. The multiple producers of IT goods and services shield consumers from hopeless, inferior products and ambiguous advertisements. Also unfair pricing does not work because of intense competition. The ever-expanding consumption of IT goods and services is beneficial to the economy. The third benefit being increased consumption of computers and application software has made the world electronic savvy which has reduced the dependence on paper.

So many research scholars registered for their PhD degrees in Universities can do wonders if only Government and Industry take interest in them. Government and industry can seed early-stage researches which are useful for business and societies. Progressive organizations increasingly seed it in areas of interest to them. They work closely with the progress of the PhD by funding or co-funding. Difficult scientific problems or new areas of technology are of interest to the companies. Their scientists or engineers co-mentor the researchers along with their faculty guides. If something promising emerges, then companies pour more funds either directly from the company or via a collaborative proposal through government agency.

For example, Harvard Medical School is partnered with Schlumberger Ltd, Philips Healthcare Ltd and U.S. National Institutes of Health. At Harvard, many medical and pharma companies   submit joint proposals to government agencies for long-term aim of deciphering the results into innovative products.

Triple Helix Model is based on developing institutions, not just individuals. Innovation is the key in any research. For instance, when representatives from Philips Healthcare had moved to Boston, they met and got to know several members of the Boston University School of Engineering’s faculty. Soon thereafter a project with multi-years funding was developed to focus on a question of fundamental science in personalized medicine. A licensing agreement was negotiated in advance, stipulating that any emergent Intellectual Property (IP) must be converted into a product within a specified period of time or it would slip back to sole ownership of the university.

Red Hat, Inc. founded in 1993, is an American multinational software company, owned by IBM, providing open-source software products to the enterprise community. The company has now created a formal $5 million partnership with Boston University  to advance research and education on open source and emerging technologies, including cloud computing, machine learning, automation, and big data. The fund runs the scope from co-supervising PhD and post-doctoral students to fund collaborative projects with faculty under the umbrella of what is called the Open Cloud Computing Initiative. BU and Red Hat will jointly license co-developed technology while each party retains exclusive rights to its pre-existing IP. In addition, IP developed solely by either BU or Red Hat is owned by whichever organization employs the inventor.

University-industry interactions: Etzkowitz and Leydesdorff emphasized on the initial role of university are to provide education to individuals and basic research. It’s like a Linear Model of Innovations; universities are supposed to provide the research on which industry builds commercial goods. The other interactions take place through the involvement of industry managers and university faculty in both sectors. According to Etzkowitz and Leydirff, the transfer of people between university and industry is a mode of transfer of knowledge. A university flourishes because of research, and industry grows on research in universities.

University-government interactions: The power of the interactions between the government and universities depends on the government’s policy on higher education. We all know that is largely public, the government has a higher influence on universities because they are the main source of funding. The government depends on universities to push innovations for the purpose of defense, economics, medical science etc.

Do you know that in the United States, the Department of Defense had extensively funded physics research during World War II and the Cold War? Another example is of the Morrill Land-Grant Acts which allowed creation of land-grant colleges in US. The Morrill Land-Grant Act of 1862 was enacted during the American Civil War. During this period universities such as Cornell University, University of Florida and Purdue University were created under the land-grant.

We need universities with a core mission of producing the educated population that’s needed to build, run and work for flourishing an economy. Today in India how many universities have been able to connect their activities to society and the nation’s economy? Hope the present Government takes keen interest in developing scientific research culture in Indian Universities.