The Need for Talent to multiply Talent

The Need for the Talented to Multiply Talent

In the Indian context not a day passes with out a mention of the looming talent crisis to be faced by the IT and ITES sector. A shortage of similar magnitude is increasingly being felt by the brick and mortar industry, in infrastructure projects, Neither the Services segment is spared, as is seen in the shortage of qualified accountants. We are recruiting at third year level (two years prior to graduation) and the trend may continue.

What is needed is a multi pronged approach to tackle the problem on an immediate basis.

Education being a concurrent subject, has now become every government’s (state and central) problem. As is always the case under such circumstances every decision maker has come with up quick fix short term stand alone solutions with out a clear cut approach to prepare talent which are recognized at the state and national level as well as the international level. One wonders whether the decision makers at the education departments are aware of the need to nurture talent and provide enough opportunities for them to develop. While it is impossible to alter the basic structure of decision-making and governance, we need to start to address the issue.

The best way to start is by appointing a Central Education Regulator supplemented by state Education regulators. The Education Regulator functions and powers shall be structured in a similar manner as is done for the other industry like the Telecom. Today most of the institutions in the private sector are being run as an enterprise with clear responsibility to the promoters rather than to the student. Such undertakings need to be regulated and a quasi-judicial body needs to be constituted to streamline their operations on an immediate basis.

The regulator shall at the policy level lay down the following guidelines:

· Uniform Syllabus across states from the Higher secondary School onwards(8th Standard onwards),

· Lay down the principle of selection of teachers and their appointment, including fixing their service conditions.

· Fix Student – teacher ratios for each level

· Define minimum infrastructure requirements for each type of curriculum

· Define evaluation procedure

· Evaluate new specialization avenues and through the support of expert bodies and consultants formulate structured courses for new avenues.

· Specify minimum funding requirements

· Bring in a system of transparent accounting and acceptable maximum norms of return on the investment, Debt - equity norms and other investment guidelines to encourage Public Private partnership.

At the implementation level regulators role will be supported by multiple organisations and it is therefore necessary to appoint State Regulators. The state regulators in addition to laying all policy framework for the primary education, will be responsible for the implementation of the Central Regualtor's policies with in the defined state geographical boundaries.

The central regulator as an overseer of the implementation shall

· Introduce Licenses and certification mechanisms to ensure orderly implementation of its policies

· Shall establish transparently educational fees to be paid by the public at large

· Shall regulate the pricing of the educational materials which are consumed by public at large

· Establish cross subsidy norms and generate funds for rural education utilising the premiums now being paid at the Metro level through a transparent mechanism.

· Regulate coaching centers and monitor them.

· Regulate Mid day meal scheme

· Regulate student concessions

· Intervene in any area of concern (such as Vehicular Transportation for Children) which affect the student or the teaching community at large

· Adjudicate on issues related to examination are recruitment

As is clearly seen above there are various agencies either attempting to regulate these issues and in some of the cases the issues are not addressed at all. Providing such an encompassing role for the regulator could be contested by many, it is necessary to understand that unless all these issues are addressed it will be impossible to move quickly forward.

The main fall out of such a transparent regulatory policy frame work will be to encourage private investment. If our software companies are hesitant to invest in large scale in education, it is because of the need for themselves to collate data on the institutions. Further they need to supervise the implementation themselves and that requires a lot of responsibility which is outside their core competencies. No wonder there are so many crying over issues in the educational system with out doing anything about it.

Taxation Policy of the government and the credit policy shall be structured to encourage investment by corporates in to the certified institutions. At the personnel level outright allowance of say Rs. 1 lac per individual as set of in the taxable income from the salaried class will see the investments rushing in to the system. There are many a professional who will be willing to invest directly given this additional incentive.

e Learing which is a nascent phenomena needs to be encouraged. Innovative mechanisms shall be thought of to use such as utilising the off peak bandwidth available with leading service providers to deliver content to remotest areas of the country.

Across sectors Indians have proven their mettle and will definitely look at an opportunity to spend more time in India and invest their talent and resources. Persons in the educational field especially, given their typically strong religious leaning, will not waste an opportunity to return. But they will return only if the climate is right and the overall environment is conducive to investment and nurturing of talent, their own, their peers and the new stock.

India is currently uniquely poised to leverage its position in the Knowledge based industry. There are many diverse issues starting from the robust all round performance of our own economy, a renewed interest in the Indian market by our own Diaspora, the crashing of the distances and increased globalisation, etc which have created an opportunity for the government to seize the moment and provide the frame work to the talented to multiply talent.

Last but not the least, the talented Indian Diaspora is aware of the increased inequalities that are getting created in the western world, which are solely attributable to their talent. If it were to boil over it is any body's guess, who will be the first affected and no body can pretend to be not aware of the such a situation developing.

Funding Higher Education

IIT Chennai, with a funding of Rs. 100 crores for 5000 students and 400 teachers is one of the key factors that make this institution a great success. The other factor as the Open Page article "IIT Models have to be replicated" in The Hindu today correctly argues is the total autonomy.

As one of the strategists at a recent exchange of ideas in Yale University sessions (I was lucky to hear through a podcast) mentioned it is the Autonomous status of the universities of USA which gives it the cutting edge in innovation. The panelist went to the extent of arguing that this is one of the key factors which make the USA super power; you destroy this autonomy and USA may loose its special status as the lone Super Power.

We have two great advantages. We are a living democracy and we have the demography in our favour. India Inc or the governments or the Alumini of these institutions must wake up to this fundamental reality and initiate urgent steps to release the second tier institutions from excessive controls.

Inclusive Education

One needs to revisit the concept of Educating the future generation and think out of the box to bring in innovative methods of truly educating the future Indians. While the current educational system suits a segment, we need to devise new patterns to implement our desired objective of "Inclusive Education".

Training in skills which are appropriate for a segment of the population combined with the basic knowledge of Language, Arithmetic, Civic Sense etc is one of the sure ways of achieving success in this endeavour. One needs to make a propaganda of the advantages of such a curriculum so that the children are voluntarily sent to the schools.

Sports has been neglected for too long. While we are fighting over reservations in Post graduate education, people in power have not made any effort to tap the enormous potential that is available in Sports. Rural sports can transform to a major entertainment business in the Semi Urban and rural areas. Today, the urbanites has hijacked this area as well and along with it the funds. Why is it necessary to have the best of the training facilities in Metros? will it not be a better idea to have them in multiple District level locations where the basic skills are available in abundance and waiting to be tapped?

Spotting Excellence is the primary task. To identify and implement systems for spotting excellence is the first step. To nurture such talents, it is essential to build Public Private model so that the truly talented benefit and the benefit reaches all.

Education Vouchers

Providing quality primary education can help to catapult our nation as whole entity to the top leagues given the favourable demography captured vividly through the survey and presented with clarity in the article "Is there a Solution(for our educational maladies)?"

The issues which need to be addressed vary from the existing multifarious presence of castes, their local social interactions to attract investment and talent for providing the educational service and finally to achieve that the funds reach the targeted. This will bring in the much needed private sector investment to expedite improvements.

One of the possible solutions is the use of "Education Vouchers".

Our educational systems are stretched and as Prof Indiresan has argued(here as well as in his columns in Vision 2020), brilliant students need to be identified and taught by brilliant teachers. In the crucible of Education institutions one needs to have a balance of brilliant students and teachers to sustain the reaction. Targeted funding will act as the catalyst which will accelarate the process.

It is incumbent on the powers that be to focus on the "solutions which are staring at us" and decide to implement.

Higher Education - A total need revamp required

Approach to higher education, needs a total revamp. Policy makers are aware of the need but are doing very little as they are still grappling with the problem of education at the Primary level. They are also focused on side issues such as Reservations as they feel that this is politically correct. They could not be more worng.

Whenever, Government has distanced itself from any sector India Inc has risen up to the occasion. The Cement sector, Automobiles and Telecom sector stand out as shining examples. In the education segment when the need for harnessing Private sector investment was recognised and policy guidelines were being formulated, in the mid eighties, politicians who are also great entrepreneurs grabbed the opportunity. When they enter a field they instinctively block the others entry, as by nature they are very competitive and like the armed forces are trained to protect their turf by any means.

So it is necessary for the governments both at the center and the states to stay away, to encourage investment in this segment. They will do a lot of good including themselves, it they observe the Sector from arm's length. One need not look farther than the Tata Institute (now Indian Institute of Science), Birla Institute of Technology and Science Annamali University and more recently SSN college and many more like that to realise that India Inc is aware of the need to contribute their might and have proved their ability in doing it as well. The products of these institution are committed to the up liftment of India Inc as a whole. It is not mandatory for these students to work for the firms which had funded these institutions at the inception and they are free to work anywhere.

If Government decides on these lines and provide enabling provisions for India Inc to enter this segment with out any hidden agenda I am sure we will see a clear solution emerge in the next five years.

Higher Education - Abroad – Do we prepare our wards & ourselves?

These days school students are encouraged to evaluate taking undergraduate courses abroad as the first option. Even though the government is aware that every year a minimum of 3 to 4 lacs aspirants who qualify for quality higher education year after year, they eliminate more than 99% of the eligible students under some fancy evaluation basis and pride itself on having completed its duty. They could not have been more wrong. What a practical and performing government will do is to exploit this strength of talent and built one of the most qualified young force in the world. But we are yet to realize this potential. However the other governments who do not have the youth as we have, are alive to the situation and are here to exploit it. They are fighting amongst themselves for our brilliant minds, with or with out funds. There are advertisements and promotions, school sponsored visits which all bring in a major influence to favor this option. Peer pressure through previous batch students who have taken up the course and who give a measured feed back also add to the influence.

As a person who has had first hand experience in children currently on study assignments abroad I list some of the most common issues which crop up after one decided to take up the course (which for reasons best known never crop up earlier!).

Familiarize with the place through a personal visit: First and foremost is to get a first hand experience of the place where you intend to send your ward. It would be best to travel with your family and visit the university. You may drop by on your journey abroad or join the numerous promotional travels being arranged. Even if the entire family cannot travel one of you, best visits the place. It is necessary to meet the staff, past students and current students studying in the institution and discuss with them all your doubts; how is the teaching? What about ragging? How is the syllabus? What about mess facilities? What are job opportunities after completion of course so on and so forth. You may identify Indian students who are studying there and catch up with them here in India on their holiday. It is necessary to convince yourself about the course content, especially for higher studies, for most of the information available through the internet medium and the printed brochures are only indicative.

Hostel facility is another important consideration. It is necessary to ascertain whether hostel accommodation is available. Typically, no separate Girls hostel is available. In some cases, girls & boys share the same room and in others, girls & boys share the same hostel though in different floors. This may come as a major surprise for some as we are all used to separate hostels for girls and hence tend to be presumptuous on this account. There are universities which recommend off campus stay which in most of the cases is very painful as we do not train our wards to run a household at this young age. In case you consider it as an option, it is necessary to train your ward to be independent to the extent of running the house (for self of course).

Another is the food. For both vegetarians & non-vegetarians, there will be issues on the food front. It is indeed a disappointment that international institutions which promote Indian students to join them is not encouraging establishment of Indian Non Vegetarian & vegetarian cuisine as an option in the campus and their mess / canteen. In some locations the absence of food of your liking combined with severe climate does put a lot of pressure on the ward which one must carefully evaluate and prepare for.

On the curriculum the method of teaching and evaluation are totally in line with CBSE syllabus but students who have studied under different schemes where memorizing is given importance, over understanding basic concepts do find the going tough. In extra curricular activities, though plenty of facilities are available the ward needs to have a certain standard of play for participation. Typically, a beginner finds the going tough as other players who regularly use these facilities have had prior training and are proficient at these levels.

Cultural difference and its impact on your children need to be understood. Dress code as practiced by us and what is acceptable outside is entirely different and you must prepare yourself and your children for it.

Summing up, parents need to apply their mind more thoroughly and evaluate not only the main curriculum related issues such as method of teaching, but also off curriculum items such as Hostel facilities, Canteen facilities, cuisine, extra curricular activities and preparedness of your ward for running the household alone.