‘Education’ in India – a new buzz word

With Kapil Sibal’s new found interest in education, I am sure we will see changes. Changes that he will be hailed for and changes that he will be booed for. Either way, I believe this is a start of a new chapter in Indian Education.

Although I am not privy to the changes being made at a grass root level, I still believe these are too small steps coming too late. The issue we face in education is a little more than ‘to have exams or not to have exams’.

Are the students trained to do something in a practical ‘big bad world’? Let’s look at what science graduates Zoology do. Or for than matter what do engineers do? A mechanical engineer goes ahead and becomes a software professional. A Zoology graduate becomes an advertising professional handling FMCG accounts. So is it about just being a graduate or actually learning to do something that is required in the industry.

Unfortunately, the pace at which the industry grows, is not the same as the pace at which our education changes. In fact, we need to look at education from two critical aspects:
01. Getting students ready for what they can do in parlance to the industry
02. Making education boards agile to change patters, content and education modes to drive employability to students.

Hope Mr. Sibal is seeing it from this perspective

A traffic cop that the nation should be proud of

The other day I was moving around Andheri West in Bombay, trying to navigate my way in the overtly crowded roads. Cars kept zipping by, BEST buses hogged the roads, Rickshaws kept swinging lanes to avoid hitting and being hit, but mostly to avoid picking up local passengers as it would result in low fare earnings.

At a traffic junction, I saw a traffic cop literally pulling a rickshaw off the road to allow an old couple get on and move. Not a single rickshaw was stopping to pick them up. Just as we got our green signal to move on, I saw him stopping another rickshaw to accommodate a mother and child standing on the road.
I kept moving trying to navigate the traffic and my chores. But the face of the cop and the acts kept smiling at me. On my way back I asked a shop owner there about the cop and him stopping the rickshaws for passengers who wait and do not get a ride. He said that this cop (still do not know his name) does help out people keeping the ‘spirit of the law higher than the law itself’.

Amid all the corruption we see in the police cadre, acts like this change the mindset of people. This is truly where protectors act as protectors and are seen the same way.

A bright light of hope. I sincerely want to see that cop being given recognition for what he is doing.