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Speeches
2006
•"Ten lessons from life"
Speech delivered by Azim Premji, Chairman,
Wipro Corporation, 37th Convocation of IIT Delhi on 12 August, 2006
"The funny thing about life
is that you realize the value of something
only when it begins to leave you. As my hair turned from black, to salt
and pepper and finally salt without the pepper, I have begun to realize
the enthusiasm and excitement of youth. At the same time, I have begun
to truly appreciate some of the lessons I have learnt along the way."
More
•"What will it take to
achieve Universal Quality Education"
Speech delivered by Azim Premji, Chairman,
Wipro Corporation, Business Today, Anniversary Issue,
January 2006
"To build universal
perspective on Quality Education, it is important to understand
quality, not in the context of varied individual desire, but in the
context of the kind of society India aspires to be." More
2005
•"Hunger
Project, October 2005"
Speech delivered by Azim Premji, Chairman,
Wipro Corporation, October 2005
"The Hunger Project is a unique social experiment.
It recognises that hunger, poverty and inequity are only symptoms of
deeper socio-structural malaise. Therefore, attacking hunger by doling
out food will only offer temporary relief. Hunger will not end if
hungry people continue to be treated as beneficiaries of sympathy. The
work of ending hunger must begin with building from people’s own
creativity, their skill and will to make different things happen." More
•"Bangalore
Teacher Graduation Under the program of Wipro Applying Thought in
Schools"
Speech delivered by Azim Premji, Chairman,
Wipro Corporation,18 June 2005
"One, make your classroom a
friendly place.
Learning is an act of creative tension. At school, the child is
struggling to understand a complex world. For instance, you might know
that if I drop a pencil and a book, they will fall at the same speed.
But for a child, this goes against all her intuition! And to take that
leap – from her current understanding to new understanding – is an act
that requires great courage." More
•"A nation ablaze with the spirit of social
progress"
Speech delivered by Azim Premji, Chairman,
Wipro Corporation in 2005
"The independence movement cannot remain static history – it needs to
be
re-ignited. We cannot let that precious flame of national consciousness
die when millions of our countrymen continue to languish in economic
and social poverty." More
•"A land of children dancing in the rain"
Speech delivered by Azim Premji, Chairman,
Wipro Corporation in 2005
"When I look at children, I wonder whether they
have time to play with friends, to meet interesting people, to explore
the world, and to follow their curiosity. When the first monsoon
showers begin, I would think that the streets would be full of children
rushing headlong into the rain, dancing and playing. However, I think
today, the rains fall on empty streets." More
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2004
•"Education
is much more than passing examinations and scoring marks. It is about
building character."
Speech delivered by Azim Premji, Chairman, Wipro Corporation
at the LGP
Award
Function on 11 December,
2004 in Bellary
"One often hears several clichés when it comes to
defining the ideal school environment and culture. There are several
words that are used: joyful, child centered, interactive, one that
allows the child to construct knowledge etc. There is one definition
that touched my heart last year. “All we do is to create a warm and
welcoming environment for the children in our school. Automatically,
the children love the school and learning takes place.” These were the
words of the Head Teacher of the Government Lower Primary School at
Anthapannala near Gulbarga - a school that is a winner this year also."
More
•"Passing
examinations cannot become the purpose of education just like crossing
signals cannot be the purpose of going on a journey."
Address delivered by Azim Premji, Chairman, Wipro Corporation to the
Sahodaya School Complexes on 10 October, 2004 in Bangalore
"If I were to dream about an ideal school, it would
be a school that believes in the child’s right to respect. A school
that understands that every child learns differently, at different
depths and at different speeds. A school that assesses, not to judge,
but to improve learning. A school that cares for children and feels
responsible for the holistic progress of every child. A school that
invests in teacher development, better assessment systems and community
participation. A school that realises that feeding content does not
equal learning. A school that believes in helping each child construct
his or her own knowledge and finally, a school that continuously
learns." More
•Keynote address delivered by Azim Premji,
Chairman,
Wipro Corporation at the release of 50th CD title at the Learning
Centre, Sarjapur
"Our attempt is to
“make learning play” through a deployment of unique multimedia content.
Enough research and theories are available to indicate that learning
through play is one of the most effective ways for children to learn." More
•"Primary
Education –
The Backbone of a New India"
Address delivered
by Azim Premji, Chairman, Wipro Corporation at the 12th
anniversary celebration of the Returned Non Resident Indians
Association on 3 July, 2004
“Unless we as a country
make significant transformation in the quality of education a number of
other problems such as poverty, health
under utilisation of human resources, productivity, our dream of a kind
of caring and sharing society will remain problems for ever.” More
•Address
delivered by Azim Premji,
Chairman, Wipro Corporation at the IIM-Kolkata during the Annual
Convocation, 2004
3 April, 2004
"Transformation is not so
much a process, as a deep seated desire to change ourselves and
our environment." More
•Accountability
continues to be the most important aspect of ensuring quality of
education
Keynote address by Azim
Premji, Chairman, Wipro Corporation at the Learning Guarantee Awards
Function in Gulbarga on 14 February, 2004
"The Learning Guarantee programme has given us a concrete hope that
more
and more schools, habitations and parents are willing to take
accountability for their children’s education." More
•Address delivered by Azim
Premji, Chairman, Wipro Corporation at the 42nd
International Conference of
the World Education
Fellowship in Mumbai
4 January, 2004
"Effective
education is not only about making education accessible but relevant.
It is about defining new relationships between the child and the world
around him or her. It is about building self-worth, not taking it away.
It is about helping the child to recognise, acknowledge and utilize his
or her potential to contribute to the family, society and nation." More
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2003
•Address
delivered
by Azim Premji, Chairman, Wipro Corporation to school
children at the Kodava Samaj Auditorium in Bangalore
As given on 6 December,
2003
"You may think that I am going to talk about Wipro or myself.
But I am not. Once upon a time I was also
in your place as a child. I know
that sometimes what older people say seems to make no sense. So all I
will do is tell you a few stories." More
•"Transforming
India
- The Education
Imperative"
Speech delivered by Azim Premji,
Chairman, Wipro Corporation at the Jawaharlal Nehru
Memorial Lecture, 2003.
"Among the several invaluable teachings that Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru
left behind for all of us, the one closest to my heart is about
'Character'. Very early in my life I learnt that Character is Destiny.
That Character of an individual, an organization or a society is the
most important determinant of success." More
•Speech delivered by Azim Premji, Chairman,
Wipro
Corporation at the 125 years celebration of ‘The Hindu’
As given in Bangalore on 8 November, 2003
"At the Primary Education level, we have a huge job ahead of
us. We need to focus on elementary education
because it can form a solid foundation for
development of India." More
•"Building
Human
Capital for Economic Development"
Keynote Speech delivered by Azim Premji,
Chairman, Wipro Corporation at the World Bank's Annual Bank Conference
on Developmental Economics, 2003
"Human development is about
people, about expanding their choices to lead lives they value.
Fundamental to enlarging human choices is building human capabilities:
the range of things that people can do or be. Human Development is
certainly a broader and primary goal than mere economic development.
That is why we measure development in refined manner such as Human
Development Index instead of mere average national income." More
•Speech
delivered by Azim Premji, Chairman, Wipro Corporation at the Third
Annual
Public Affairs Lecture on 'Universal
Elementary Education: A
way forward for India'
22 February, 2003
"The importance of education
is best driven by the Chinese proverb that says:
If you want to think one year ahead, plant rice If
you want to think 10 years ahead, plant trees But if you want
to think 100 years ahead, give education to
people." More
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2002
• Speech
delivered by Azim Premji, Chairman, Wipro Corporation at the Annual
General Meeting of Roundtable India, at Cochin
27 December, 2002
Several state governments have launched
initiatives to enrol large number of out-of-school children in school.
In Karnataka alone, over 300,000 out-of-school children have been
mainstreamed during the past three years. On the other hand, the
national average drop out rate for children from 1-8 standard is as
high as 58%. This means for every 100 children that get enrolled in
standard 1, only 42 children remain in class 8. There are many reasons
why children drop out. However, the most important of them is that
children do not find it worthwhile to remain in the school. They find
it threatening, boring and confusing. They do not learn enough. More
•Speech
delivered by Azim Premji, Chairman, Wipro Corporation at the launch of
the Learning Guarantee programme
As given in Gulbarga on
23 November, 2002
I would like to reiterate that across India, there
are over 50 million children out of school. While most state
Governments are driving the enrolment of these children with a lot of
vigour and success, the drop out rates of the children in standard 1 to
4 are still at 42% and those of children in 1-8 standard are at an
alarming 58%. Unless we address the issue of retention of these
children inside the school, all our efforts will be like filling water
in a broken earthen pot. The only way the children could be retained is
when they find their existence inside the school gainful, relevant and
beneficial for life. More
•Keynote
address delivered by Azim Premji, Chairman, Wipro Corporation at the
'National Conference for Not for Profit
Organizations'
9 August, 2002
"We must appreciate that the
demands on not-for-profit organizations are growing at a much faster
pace than what used to be the case five years ago. They have multiple
challenges such as working in areas where the results are not
completely within their control or where results are not tangible.
Other challenges include having to interact with various state
governments and manage in spite of a shortage of key talent, since few
people find it very attractive to join the development sector. Combined
with this now is the added pressure for most not-for-profit
organizations to demonstrate global standards of uniformity and quality
in governance, accounting, financial reporting and disclosure
norms." More
•Speech
delivered by Azim
Premji, Chairman, Wipro Corporation at the 'Wipro Applying Thought in
Schools : Quality
Initiative programme'
June
21, 2002
"Ensuring quality in
education is an ambitious target and we are committed to make it a
nationwide success. We realize that quality can come about only through
systemic changes and those would depend on the participation of all the
stakeholders in the education system." More
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2001
•Speech
delivered by
Azim Premji, Chairman, Wipro Foundation at the Pratibha
Puraskar awards
As given on July 12, 2001
"The world of today is not
simple but very complex. It will constantly throw at you challenges,
paradoxes and conflicting messages. Nothing will be available for you
in an easy way. You will have to develop the ability to make meaning
out of this and choose what is right for you. In other words, you will
have to develop the ability to deal with ambiguity." More
•Keynote address delivered by Azim Premji,
Chairman,
Wipro Corporation at the Bombay Chamber of Commerce and Industry at
their
Annual General Meeting
28 May
“For any transformation to be comprehensive
and sustainable, it should cover not only the economic transformation
but also social transformation. This will ensure that the benefits of
transformation are pervasively distributed. Since all transformation
begins in the mind of the transformational leader, it includes the
change that government, business and social leaders need to bring about
in their own leadership styles.” More
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