Day & Boarding International School in Bangalore

Discussion

Developing tomorrow's Global Citizens: Is India Moving Fast Enough?

Panel discussion brings the who's who in the field of industry and academia together

The world is becoming flat. According to Thomas Friedman, the New York Times columnist and Pulizer Prize winner, the cascade of technological shifts of past decade effectively leveled the economic world and created a flat world: a global platform of sharing knowledge and work, irrespective of time, distance, geography and increasingly language. In this increasingly globalised scenario, how we educate our children will decide the future of our country and the quality of citizens. This and several related issues were discussed in a panel discussion hosted by TREAMIS at Oxford Bookstore today. Present among the panelists were John McClure, MD, Intel, Dr Ali Khwaja, well known counselor, Prof Malathi Somiah, Dr Sankarshan Basu, both of IIMB, Dr Chris Clott, Associate professor at St. Xaviers University, Chicago, and Dakshayini Kanna of TREAMIS World School. The event was moderated by well known Emcee Dr Usha Mohandas.

“The debate is important because India has rightfully developed an enviable worldwide reputation for churning out significant numbers of engineering and business graduates that are highly sought after in the global knowledge economy. A reference for education combined with a growing number of first rate educational institutions has been a primary driver in the country’s growth. But will this be enough? “ asked Dr Chris Clott. Pointing out to the fact that India needs more creative thinking and innovation he added “Growing evidence suggests that India future needs will require more innovation and creative thinking than has been fostered so far, particularly in the critical K-12 grades. The future must marry the significant technical capacities of young Indian students with the “soft skills” that include communication, team building, and global knowledge that will be required to develop the nation farther”.

“Today's education should aim at increasing student's knowledge of the world, its demands, its people and the culture. This would be only possible by collaboration and dialogue between schools of different countries. Such efforts have been successful in higher education but are very few or not at all existing in school education” said Mrs Dakshayini Kanna, Director TREAMIS World school. “The globally distributed employees of Tech companies work in teams to develop products and services. This trend is increasing and has diffused to small and individual businesses worldwide. It has become necessary for schools to develop these global employees by providing the experience of global team work in their learning environment. The emphasis should be on developing teams of students located in different countries working on a common assignment given to their team.. At TREAMIS we have tie-ups with two US schools - Morgan Park Academy and Lake Forest Academy, to facilitate exchange of students as well as development of pedagogy. This arrangement brings in a truly international perspective into our teaching” she added.

Dakshayini Kanna, Dr. Usha Mohandas, John McClure, Dr. Chris Clott, Prof Malathi Somiah, Dr. Sankarshan Basu, Dr Ali Khwaja

Creativity, Innovation and greater soft skills need of the hour

While the Indian system of education has its advantages when it comes to rote learning and a competitive examination system, it has its inherent flaws. While the pace of globalization has quickened, our education system has not kept up to the pace. Pointing this out Dr Sankarshan Basu of IIMB said “India Rising is a slogan that has been used for some time and a significant part of the India Rising effect is due to the Globalized Indian Citizen. Indians are no longer restricted to a few countries of the world – nor do they approach the world centre stage as diffident player, but they are very confident players taking on the competition without any demand for a handicap. The issue of the pace of movement of India has been questioned – now that is fairly subjective”.

Dr Basu further added “This is due to the fact that as a society we are open to change but are slow to accept change. This apparent paradox is what creates the Indian society and has propelled India over the years. And out of this paradox rises the global Indian who is equally at ease with domestic issues as well as international issues thereby being more of a global citizen”

Dr Ali Khwaja, well known counselor said “India showed the way to the world by its Gurukul style of Value-based education, but has now succumbed to the system of knowledge based learning, which is certainly not the need of tomorrow's Global Citizens. We need to build emotional intelligence, the capacity to understand and manage one's own emotions, to motivate oneself, and to empathize with and understand others. There is a need for a drastic change in approach, and unless we bring in a complete paradigm shift very soon, we may find ourselves falling behind in this twenty first century of unlimited opportunities.”

Dr Clott ended with a note saying “Only a general realignment of the country’s primary and higher education systems can produce the future leaders that the country will need as it develops into a global power”.

Treamis World School, near Electronics City, Hulimangala Post, Bangalore South 562104, Tel: +91 (80) 2780 3006/ +91 99723 99046, info@treamis.org