Right skill sets necessary for students to explore their best career options
Former British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli has said, “The secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity, when it comes.”
The recent years have witnessed an incredible and sweeping reorientation in the global ecosystem. The rampaging pathogen and scientific advances such as the emergence of the IoT and AI are here to devour many métiers. The good tiding is that,in the years to come, the need for a skilled work force with multidisciplinary abilities across the sciences, social sciences, and humanities, will be significantly heightened.
Gone are those days when career choices were finite. Thanks to the era of the World Wide Web, numerous avenues have flung their doors open for the youngsters. The challenge is to make the right skill set available so that one may pursue a career that he is passionate about.
For instance, if we wish to promote and nourish entrepreneurship, which possesses a vast potential for generating occupations, essential knowledge of creating business proposals, pitching and fundraising must be woven into the formal curricula.
It has indeed become imperative to revise and revamp all aspects of education structure in order to keep up with this fast-evolving knowledge and employment landscape. Our scholars need to adapt themselves to circumstances just as water shapes itself to the vessel that contains it. Ergo, focus must be on forging critical-thinkers and problem-solvers.
Pedagogy has to make room for empirical, inquiry-driven, discovery- oriented and skill-based learning. This sort of multifaceted approach alone can ensure a secure and prosperous future for our tutees.
In addition to that, what also harries educators is the human capital flight that is shrinking India’s talent pool. In this scenario, all the stakeholders, who are invested in the welfare of the future policy-makers, must take up the cudgels to stop the brain drain. This monumental task can only be accomplished by instilling in the blooming and impressionable minds, ‘a rootedness and pride in India’, to quote the National Education Policy of India 2020, verbatim.
The need of the hour is an altered framework that is aligned with the aspirational goals of cutting-edge education, involving SDG4,while building upon our nation’s glorious heritage and value system. India will soon turn from a nation of job-seekers into a land of job-creators, if we take up the pursuit of knowledge (jnan), wisdom (pragyaa) and truth (satya), as practised in the world-class institutes of ancient India.
The school curriculum plays a vital role here. Keeping patriotism as the scaffolding, the scheme of studies must scrutinize in detail the major frontiers of education in the Indian context and address the chasm between education and career as a matter of exigency. Malcolm X, one of the most influential African-American human rights activist, had once rightly said, “The future belongs to those who prepare for it today.” It is our collective commitment to make learning a tool for preparedness. The cardinal purpose of imparting knowledge is moulding pupils into compassionate and responsible individuals and also preparing them for gainful, fulfilling employment.
Bri. Samapika, Principal, Amrita Vidyalayam, New Delhi. Views expressed are personal.