>> October 10, 2004

Address by Mr. Azim Premji, Chairman, Azim Premji Foundation, to the Sahodaya School Complexes in Bangalore

Ladies and Gentlemen:

I have always believed that the “power to decide” must be left to those who are closest to action. In Education, this power must be vested with the teachers, the students, the parents and the schools. This gathering represents a commendable effort by the CBSE to decentralize the education system and empower schools. It gives me great pleasure to be invited to participate in this effort.

Let me begin by talking to you about one issue that is really very important. As I look to the future, I see enormous opportunity for India in the global arena. According to various reports I get from time to time, India has the potential of becoming one of the top economies in the world by 2050. But to convert this opportunity into reality, we need leaders who can face up to the challenges along the way.

What makes a good leader? Apart from sincerity and ability to work hard, good leaders are those who have an enquiring and critical mind, who are excited by challenge and are willing to take risks. Leaders need to be creative. They must be willing to collaborate and work well in teams. They must always want to learn. Leaders need to respect diversity. And most important, they must have the resilience to stand firmly by a set of values that can guide them and those who work with them.

Though many of us in the industry recruit the best people that India has to offer, we find that these characteristics are absent in many of them. The qualities I described cannot be so developed after one becomes an adult. Even if they can, it is an arduous task and their qualities do not go deep enough into the personality. These need to be developed from a tender age, when the mind is fresh and uncluttered. A dry sponge absorbs maximum water. That is why schools have the biggest role in nurturing such development. There is no doubt that our students do well in academic skills and some of them have brought great honour for our country. Yet, when it comes to a vast majority of students, we need to face the question head on: are we creating leaders or just large masses of followers who look to others to tell them what to do with their lives.

I have often wondered why is it that the best people who go through our education system sometimes do not bring basic ‘life’ qualities to the work place. Does our obsessive focus with examination come in the way of developing an overall personality? Passing examinations cannot become the purpose of education just like crossing signals cannot be the purpose of going on a journey. This makes our education another “tuition” centre. In fact, the ‘tuition’ industry owes its existence to the examination mania. It is almost like one error being compounded by another by further emphasizing just one part of the person at the cost of all other parts. The end result is that in many cases we could end up by churning out standardized children like graded ‘products’ in a factory, who remain weak in creating, thinking, discovering and learning. Such individuals are programmed to obey and conform, because they have limited life skills and need continuous direction.

I am not an Educationist but I have had the opportunity of interacting with many of the students who graduate from various institutes across the country. I wanted to share my honest thoughts with you. You may like to evaluate these in the light of your own experiences. I do hope that these thoughts will give you useful pointers to evaluate the fundamental assumptions on which we rest our education system.

So, going back to the earlier question, if passing examinations is not the sole purpose of education, then what is it that schools must aim for? In my view, schools are and must be agents of individual growth and social transformation.

By individual growth, I am only reiterating the belief that every child has infinite potential. Can our schools help each child in tapping that potential? By social transformation, I am stressing the role of schools in building a certain kind of society. Until our schools care for every child and thus teach every child to care for another, we can never hope to create a truly inclusive and harmonious society.

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. Can this be your school? May be, you have even better ideas on what can make an ideal school. All I ask is that you should have your own dream, whatever it may be. We need to accept what needs to be changed to move towards that dream. A dream becomes a vision and model for action when we truly begin to believe that we have whatever it takes to achieve our dream. Then the hard work that follows to make it happen makes the journey a joy in itself.

I know that, in the last couple of years, the CBSE has made several attempts to progressively improve board exams. This has also led to many schools to change their internal assessment systems. But any change that happens at the instance of others carries only so much energy and momentum. A change that comes from inside on the other hand has no such limits because the commitment to it is total and binding.

If you are willing to make a beginning, it may be worthwhile to evaluate the assessment systems in your school. We need to ask whether they only test memory or do they check whether the child has truly understood concepts at a deeper level, and is now able to apply this learning in the real world. Test is a screen. Before we check how well it screens, we must evaluate whether it screens the right things. And the taste of the pudding lies in eating. If the screen can measure how well the child is prepared for the life ahead, it is an appropriate screen. But if it does not, then no matter how tough the screen is, it is totally meaningless. To give you a simple instance, instead of asking children what happened in the 1857 war of independence, could you ask them to describe, in their own words, why the war happened? And then ask them to draw out their own learning that they can apply in the real world. It is not remembering the facts alone that matters, but the ability to interpret them and use them as thinking frameworks for their own decisions.

Over the past few years, I have worked with the poorest of village schools, and I have worked with best urban schools. I have witnessed what I can call the ‘pyramid of aspiration’. The village government school wishes to be like the village private school. The village private school wishes to be like the best private school in the nearby town. This town school wishes to be like private schools in cities like Bangalore. And, in turn, they wish to be like the ‘best’ school around – typically, this is the neighbourhood CBSE school. The Sahoday network, and each one of you here, represents the peak of that pyramid of aspirations. I think it is something to be proud about.

As leading schools, you hold the destiny of the Indian school system. If each one of you is able to transform your school into true beacons of quality, then you will see the ripple slowly moving outward to encompass the entire network of schools in the country.

I want each of you to recognize that the leadership I see in this gathering is not only a privilege and honour but also an enormous responsibility. When I look at you today, I see the future of our country right here in front of my eyes!

You owe it not only to yourself and but also to the other schools in the country to rise to the challenges and make the most of the opportunity that lies ahead. Most importantly though, you owe it every trusting child who has placed his or her life in your hands. I am sure you will do everything possible to ensure that the child succeeds. As teachers I am sure that your overwhelming pride comes from each successful step the child takes. I can only offer gratitude to my own teachers who have helped to achieve whatever success I have had in my life. There will be many students who will recollect for years what you have done for them. I wish you all the best in the rewarding journey that lies ahead for you.

Thank you.

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