Question

if you are hrd minister then what will you do for country

Answer 1

What changes would you bring if you were the HRD Minister of India?

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Deepak Mehta, I love the creative freedom that comes with hypothetical scenarios.

Answered Sep 10 2015

The current Indian educational system leaves much to be desired. Some changes I would like to see to make education really education and not simply rote learning:

Promote learning over marks and grades
That would mean more emphasis and weight to active class participation, practical classes, idea generation and discussion, taking initiatives etc, and lesser to the kids' performance in the exams. 

For example, Chemistry classes have labs. But the experiments are all designed and presented to the kids for their final evaluation. How about asking them to present a dissection on any one of the latest advancements in the field of Chemistry?

Introduction of more liberal arts subjects
We have enough Engineers in India. The taboo against Arts and Commerce needs to go. India needs better writers, economists, historians etc. 

There are simply no courses on psychology, politics, self-developments, arts (music, drama etc). 

A committee to constantly evaluate the curriculum to ensure it is current and relevant
Almost all schools and even some of the biggest colleges still teach stuff from decades ago. 

Taking for example, the Computer Science specialization still focuses on computer networks, algorithms, C, C++, Java, Operating systems etc. How about the newer languages like Haskell, Python, Scala? What about web development, app development, game development? The internet of things? Artificial intelligence? 

Why not teach subjects that are actually relevant to the industry or to the development of computer science?

Proper career counselling
Kids in school have no idea what they want to do. Neither do their parents or their teachers. Groupthink in India has led everyone to believe that Engineering is the best choice. Someone interested in becoming a photographer, a writer or literary critic, a journalist has no clue what needs to be done. 

Enter career counselors. People the kids can approach to discuss their career plans and get a concrete idea of what they need to do to achieve the same. 

Properly incentivizing teaching as a profession
With few exceptions, teaching isn't really a priority for many. Primarily because teachers (and even Professors) are not well-paid in India. 

And until we can attract better talent by providing competitive salaries and other perks (security, retirement benefits, medical coverage etc), it will remain so. 

Make sure that there are enough teachers so that the teacher:student ratio isn't less than 1:15 (or 1:20). This will ensure that the teachers can give every kid the basic minimum level of personal attention. 

The 80:20 rule
80% of the kids' time in school should be planned. The rest 20% should be theirs to do whatever they want. Go to the library, play a sport, talk, discuss, observe. Just like Google does. 

Holistic focus on personal, physical, and social development along with academic.
Set up gyms. Running tracks. Encourage participation in sports. Have seminars on self-development. Enroll kids in community service. Have impromptu poetry, drama, and stage classes. 

Help kids overcome their social anxiety and develop as an individual and not just a student.