Healthcare-IT Business Strategy

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Shortage of Teachers! - Higher Education System Suffers

Indian education system has severe shortage of teachers. This is because of archaic divide and rule policy - Govt/UGC/Board rules deliberately create a divide between academia and industry. 

For higher education the teachers are supposed to have PhD and teaching experience in Govt/UGC/AICTE/MCI recognized university/institute. Industry experience is not given the same weightage as teaching experience! Obviously the teacher who has been away from the reality of industry will not be able to impart knowledge about the industry. Hence the divide by design where the students are not directly employable by the industry. The industry has to spend extra to train the students after recruitment.

The compensation model as per Govt/UGC/AICTE/MCI norms is far lower than the industry average. Hence it is hard for any industry expert to devote time for education sector. Obviously the academic knowledge remains far behind and removed from the industry pace.

The curricula norms designed by Govt/UGC/AICTE/MCI are so stringent that the education system teaches subjects/topics which are essentially useless for the industry. We end up creating a human resource capacity crisis in pretty much every sector in India.

 Once a person is out in the field the education system castigates and debars that person from lateral entry into the education mainstream. If a professional learns the skill at his or her own efforts and wants to get certified and recognized - our education system provides no mainstream methods to enable such self initiatives. Rather it is discouraged by design. S[He] has to start again from the bottom of the education system without getting any credits for on the job knowledge/expertise he has gained over the years in the field.

It is time for India to re-look at Education System and remodel it completely to build seamless bridges between academia-industry. The generation born in the British Raj era and upto 10 years after that firmly believed the legacy system is good and doesn't need to be changed. I have spoken to deaf ears for decades. Is anyone listening now?

Also read my Blog: Innovation: http://healthcareitstrategy.blogspot.in/2012/02/innovation.html