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Speech
delivered by Mr. Azim Premji, Chairman, Wipro Ltd at
the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial
Lecture, 2003
Ladies and Gentlemen:
Let me start by saying that it is a rare honour to be speaking
from this platform to a gathering of august ladies and gentlemen.
The luminous galaxy of thinkers who have spoken from this
platform pays tribute to the great man in whose memory we
all assemble here today.
That I have been invited to share this platform is an honour
to the hundreds of industry leaders in our country.
Character, human development
and success
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.
When I use the word Character I use it in the broad meaning
of the word - the indescribable mix that an individual is:
thoughts, words, feelings and above all of actions. And the
heart of Character is Values.
If you consider Wipro as a successful organization, the factor
I would rate uppermost as contributors to its success are
our Values.
At the outset we decided that Character is one factor that
will guide all our actions and decisions. We invested in uncompromising
integrity which helped us take difficult stands in some of
the most difficult business situations. We defined a set of
values and beliefs for the organization in early 70s before
it was not fashionable to do so. We decided that upholding
those Values was more important than achieving business success.
Let me also confess with candour that upholding these Values
over the years has not been easy, especially in the early
years. But we stuck on. And as the years passed we realized
that what started in the realm of idealism and implicit belief,
not only held true in reality, but proved to be a unique,
tactical competitive advantage. Customers wanted to buy from
us because we honoured our commitments. Business associates
wanted to be associated with us because they were reassured
by our straightforward dealings. Employees were comfortable
working with us because they were not obliged to do anything
that could not stand scrutiny or that made them feel ashamed
at the end of the day. Practising these values across the
organisation also gave complete transparency and a shared
sense of purpose to everyone in the organization. It is gratifying
that over the years more and more organisations want to run
their enterprises with character and integrity.
It’s only with pride that I can say that today the
entire canvas of human endeavour in our great nation, whether
in business, academics, sports or politics is full of examples
where Character and Values have driven success.
The thought that Character is Destiny can be easily illustrated
by citing names of great men and women who have turned the
tide of history. What I am trying to emphasize here is that
this is relevant not only to the visionaries, but to also
to millions of people like you and me.
Education – the only
character builder
Convinced as I am on the importance of Character, I have
tried to think and discover what shapes Character. Being neither
a scholar nor a scientist, all my thoughts in this regard
have been at the level of action rather than in unravelling
of mysteries of human development.
Luminaries like Pundit Nehru who can deeply influence the
Character and personality of an entire nation are few and
far between, the question is can we afford to wait for messiahs,
or do we take our future in our hands.
I believe it is our inherent responsibility to build our
nation, build Character and integrity in our children and
the future generation. I strongly believe that the one concerted
area that wittingly or unwittingly can shape the personality
and Character of a society is education - and I refer to fundamental
education at the primary school level. In my view it is and
absolutely imperative that we prioritize education and its
issues on the national agenda, not only in discourse but in
action.
I have no doubt that our education system as it stands today
is in need of transformation and that transforming our education
is really the key to transforming India’s destiny.
I am immensely aware that I am neither an educationist nor
an academic person. All that I understand is what kind of
people have a potential to be more successful in business
and what kind of people make successful employees.
A lot of work has been done by us as by many others to determine
the kind of citizen the nation ought to be looking for at
the end of education cycle. Let me place before you some of
the characteristics of such an individual :
- a person who has the ability
to relate rationally to fellow beings and to their environment,
- a person who has an inherent sense of curiosity and interest
beyond his/ her own life,
- a person who perseveres in the face of odds,
- a person who is not blindly obedient but can act on the
basis of independent thought and exercise judgment
- a person who has the ability and willingness to continuously
learn and change,
- a person who is excited by challenges,
- a person who sees diversity and plurality as a strength
not a threat
- and above all a person who will stand firmly by a set
of values which will guide him/ her through life.
Over the years, as I have interacted with people and organizations,
and have been exposed to the diversity in various countries,
I have realized that the difference between the successful
and the not so, is consistently the above qualities that they
bring to the task.
I refer to “success” not in its narrow sense,
but in broad terms - success is being able to achieve what
one sets out to achieve, no matter how simple the goal.
Status of Education today
The all important question is “does today’s education
deliver on the above characteristics?”
My experience personally and as also of recruitment in our
organization indicates “it is not” delivering
the same.
I have also had the opportunity to understand the education
system both in rural and urban India through the initiatives
of Azim Premji Foundation and Wipro Applying Thought Programme
in Schools (the former in rural government schools and the
latter in urban elite schools). Both the initiatives focus
on “Improving Quality of Learning”.
We realise that our education system continues to remain
enmeshed in a paradigm where note accumulation and reproduction
of information is equated with learning and mere memorization
seen as the critical cognitive faculty.
The almost factory-like efficiency of the end school exam
seems to drive everything in the system, unifying all participants
around the single objective of “doing well in exams”
which seems to have become the be all and end all of education.
This makes the system thrive on churning out standardized
children like graded “products” in a factory ………weak
in creating, thinking, discovering and learning. It fosters
individuals who are programmed to obey and conform, who have
limited life skills and need continuous direction.
It’s only a tribute to the undying human spirit and
some balancing social structures that all the qualities of
success are not completely obliterated in vast majority of
our youth, but still do find expression.
It is not that the importance of education is underestimated
in our country; public discourse and debate keeps it very
much a part of everyone’s agenda. However this consciousness
and the resulting actions revolve mainly around what I would
term as “Access” to Education and concentrate
on issues of enrolment, attendance, alarming drop out rates,
discrimination, physical conditions and facilities all of
which doubtlessly merit highest attention. But equally deserving
of urgent and immediate attention is the Quality of Learning,
which usually tends to get perfunctory treatment.
It is true that Quality of Learning cannot be addressed in
a vacuum caused by absence of schools, or absence of teachers
from schools, or the absence of the basic facilities from
schools. Nor can it be addressed divorced from the socio-economic
context of the child. Indeed Quality and Access and therefore
equity are inextricably entwined. But in my view it is critical
to appreciate that in our complex socio-economic system, as
much as Access impacts Quality, so does Quality impact Access.
It is like the double helix of the DNA, never complete in
itself but complete together, the DNA of education runs on
two strands of Quality and Access.
A lot is stated about poverty and socio-economic conditions
within a habitation as important causes for families deciding
not to send their children to the school. Our consistent experience
is that from families with identical poverty levels and socio-economic
backgrounds, almost fifty percent of parents send their children
to school while the balance fifty percent doesn’t. There
is an important lesson in this. To us it simply means all
of them are families that have potential to send their children
to the school. It is just that those who don’t send
their children to the school do not find the education and
the quality of learning in the schools relevant to their lives.
So we have a situation where sections of both the elite and
economically backward find education in a large measure irrelevant
to their needs.
In other words the quality of public education is so poor
that it does not incentivise us to overcome odds and send
our children to school. In a parallel to Economics the demand
side sees no rewards and therefore does not do its bit to
“make the market” of education.
The irrelevance of what is taught in schools, both in the
immediate context of the child and what it may mean to the
child and her family in the foreseeable future, is glaring
in the rural areas and in the schools which primarily educate
the children of the under-served part of the society.
My conviction that Quality of education must get an equal
share of the national action agenda has grown significantly
over the last few years after we started working closely in
4000 habitations in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh in the Azim
Premji Foundation and about 100 urban elite schools under
“Wipro Applying Thought in Schools” Programme. While
the Azim Premji Foundation works in rural government schools
that have a preponderance of under-served children, most of
the schools where Wipro works are for the privileged and would
generally find a mention in the “best schools”
lists. Their desire to participate in the Programme stems from
their own conviction that they must do something about the
Quality of education, in an attempt to overcome the constraints
of “system”.
So whether one were to consider the so called best schools
or the schools that some how continue to exist in the most
underprivileged of areas, the issue of Quality is equally
paramount.
Interestingly, paucity of funds or the intention of the government
is in no way a road block. The funds are there and the intentions
are there. In fact the funds that the successive governments
have committed to education are generous.
Let me also say that I sense a simmering consensus (I don’t
know how large) around the issue of Quality of education.
We need to develop the “simmering consensus”
through informed public debate into a strong visible consensus
and real action on the ground. This alone would achieve positive
transformation rather than a mere tinkering of the existing
system.
What kind of education should
we aim at?
When we speak of “Quality of Education”, it becomes
imperative to address the all important issue of “what
kind of education”?
The philosophy, purpose, method and institutions of education
need to be re-thought. This rethinking should lead us to an
education that facilitates the blossoming of all the qualities
that we talked about earlier; qualities which truly drive
success for individuals, groups and societies. In other words
an education system where the top of the agenda is real Quality.
Let me articulate what I visualise education to be. Education
to my mind is an organized system that facilitates learning
so that each individual:
- imbibe the process of understanding and becoming what
he / she can be and wants to be, i.e. develop his / her
full potential; and
- understands his /her role and responsibility in society
and contributes to its progress.
If that is the aim of education, how do we envision the kind
of individual that our education system should strive to create
? I cannot phrase this better than Pandit Nehru. In moving
words from the Discovery of India, he says:
“We can never forget the ideals that have moved our
race, the dreams of the Indian people through the ages, the
wisdom of the ancients, the buoyant energy and the love of
life and nature of our forefathers, their spirit of curiosity
and mental adventure, the daring of their thought, their splendid
achievements in literature, art and culture, their love of
truth and beauty and freedom, the basic values that they set
up, their understandings of life’s mysterious ways,
their tolerance of other ways than theirs, their capacity
to absorb other peoples and their cultural accomplishments,
to synthesize them and develop a varied and mixed culture;
nor can we forget the myriad experiences which have built
up our ancient race and lie embedded in our sub-conscious
mind.”
Being the non-educationist that I am, I have no business
to articulate what education should be like, but being the
risk taking businessman that I am, I will take the risk of
articulating what education could be like:
1) Every child is an individual with a right to respect.
This respect for the child must translate into providing a
non-intimidating and exciting space in which the child learns.
Schools need to proactively identify and eradicate every element
of threat – physical, mental and emotional – that
stifles learning and growth.
2) The right learning environment ought to be contextual
to the learner and to the community. For instance, a blind
child needs non-visual learning tools; hunger is a physical
threat detrimental to learning in underprivileged communities.
It follows that the local community has a responsibility in
creating a feasible environment within and outside the school.
So education will create frameworks for learning which is
contextual to the child’s history, future and environment.
3) There has to be this clear understanding that learning
occurs everywhere and that all learning can be interesting.
It would build on the operating principle that each child
constructs her own learning. To quote Plutarch, “The
mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled”.
4) Why is it so difficult for us to accept that every child
learns differently, at different depths and at different speeds?
Some children learn best when doing things with their own
bodies; some learn better in peer groups; yet others learn
best by emulation. There is an acute need to recognise the
importance of “Individual Learning”.
5) Let me ask you… under what subject should the eruption
of a volcano in Japan be covered? geography? physics? maybe
chemistry? geology? It is all of this and more. This is because
nature is inherently whole. It cannot be broken down into
fundamental building blocks. Then why is curriculum boxed
into subjects, modules and chapters? The child would understand
inter-related disciplines at a fundamental level. Only then
will she be able to construct knowledge that is not cut-off
from the reality of the world around her. We ought to think
of “Integrative” and wholesome learning.
6) This form of education will not stop at “content”.
The child would continuously develop life-skills. This would
include physical development, relevant vocational skills,
competencies such as creative and critical thinking and abilities
such as risk-taking and coping with change. Further, the child’s
learning would be grounded in an individual, social and human
value system imbibed from self-discovery.
In education of this nature, caring for children and feeling
responsible for the holistic progress of every child would
form the basis for all decisions. Such education will invest
in teacher development, better assessment systems, community
participation, and in a culture built on the imperative of
the learner.
It would be an education system which would continuously
refine the dynamic balance between being the key agent of
socialization and being the driver of social change. In such
a system, the child would learn how to learn, develop and
grow.
These are thoughts as I said emanating from the experience
of a businessman, not that of an educationist.
Change processes to achieve
the kind of education we aim at
If we understand and agree on the kind of education quality
that we need to aim at, it is important to understand the
change processes that it calls for. The revitalization that
a movement towards such a fundamentally changed education
system will imply and demand, in my opinion will be driven
by many initiatives.
Some of those that occur to me that need emphasis are:
1) No participant of the education system today will disagree
with the kind change that we are talking about. Every one
wants learning which is “child centric”, “enquiry
based” etc. The disagreement is never in overt words
– but in action on the ground and deep down in belief
systems and zones of comfort. This deep resistance must be
overcome before real and systemic change can be initiated.
2) Thinking must translate in to outstanding execution on
the ground. While a large part of the problem today is with
the ideology and working of the current system, an equally
large part of the problem lies with “managing an effective
delivery system”. Currently the management of the system
has not been a focus of much attention. This would need correction.
To begin with by gathering and creating a cadre of charged
education leaders (and I can assure you – there are
plenty of those), who would see the change in Quality of education
as a nation transforming mission.
3) An absolutely important aspect is going to be what in
business organizations is called “change management”.
I have no illusions that the learnings from organizations
can be translated to a behemoth like the education system
on this count, but certainly in my mind the importance of
this initiative remains the same as in organizational change.
It would involve overcoming resistance, developing shared
goals and an acceptance of accountability for outcomes.
4) A key issue is how the education system can attract good
talent. One just needs to see who works in schools, and for
what, to realize that fundamental improvement cannot be achieved
without addressing the issue of the talent pool in the field
of education. As with everything else in the context of education,
this is easier said than done. While it requires intervention
at the level of teacher education, continuing education, management
and leadership, one cannot evade the issue of how to impact
the social reward structures to get the right set of people
into education.
5) We don’t readily see the impact of the so called
“English Medium Convent School”, but this manifestation
of private enterprise in education is ubiquitous, even in
the smallest towns. The social impact of such schools driven
by aspirations of the local middle class is tremendous. There
is no case for “regulating” these schools –
but there is a compelling case to use the spirit of private
entrepreneurship in the process of change.
6) Given the deep social impact of education and it very
long term economic returns aspect, especially for primary
and secondary education, a completely “free market”
in education is not desirable, nor practical. But the fact
is that there is a market aspect of demand and supply in education.
We need to harness this efficiently, instead of ignoring it
or letting inefficiencies continue. Deep community involvement
and ownership is one key aspect of making this “market”
efficient. One glaring lacuna in the system today is its inability
or reluctance to listen to some the key stakeholders such
as the parents or the local communities. There is no mechanism
for these crucial voices to be a part of the system.
7) Technology as a low cost enhancer and multiplier of educational
capacity must be driven as a top priority. There is still
inadequate appreciation that IT (especially the internet)
is one of those few things in human history which increases
in power by sharing. The greater the number of people on the
net, the greater its power. By its ability to deliver transparency
to all in a completely non-discriminatory nature, the net
can be a fundamental driver of democracy and equality. We
are seeing the excitement our computer assisted curricular
and co-curricular learning Programme is achieving in over 400
government rural schools in Karnataka and Andhra.
Future
One of the most dramatic turn-arounds of our time has been
the dispelling Malthusian thought. The unthinkable leaps of
technology in this century have already made a phoney boogey-man
out of the Malthusian fears.
However I think and even more interesting turn-around over
the past decade or so has been the complete turning on the
head of the Malthusian hypothesis. Population and its growth
from being the primary cause of concern have gradually emerged
as unparalleled assets and strength.
As intuitively compelling was Malthus’ fear that humanity
will not be able to feed the teaming billions, it is even
more compelling reality that the most unique resource on earth
is the human mind, endeavour and spirit. Once the issue of
feeding the billions is taken care of, this unique resource
counts for all the difference in the world. It’s on
this pool of unique resource that India is uniquely ahead
of every other nation. Its large population is and can be
the most important differentiating factor.
This differential becomes even more significant if one were
to look at comparative demographics of nations a couple of
decades in the future. The productive population in India
will continue to grow, whereas this most important segment
of the population will continue to fall in relative terms
in all the major nations of the world.
So we have the inevitable scenario unfolding where India
will be the powerhouse of the most important resource –
the productive human spirit.
The stage is set. It is for us to choose which play will
be staged.
This will depend not wholly, but substantially, on what choice
we make on our education system. Will we continue with the
present blinkered system which can in no way adequately nurture
our unique talent pool ?
Or will the key stakeholders join together and transform
the system to facilitate true, lasting and relevant learning
for every child which inevitably will lead to a turbo charging
of our unique human resource pool.
The choice clearly is ours to make. And the future clearly
is ours to construct based on these choices.
As a stakeholder of the education system, I have no illusions
about the difficulty and complexity of the task on hand. But
I see a big glimmer of hope in the “simmering consensus”
that I have talked about.
The mainstream of education must pick up this agenda and
make it its own, and people like you and me who are stakeholders
must engage with this process of transformation even if to
begin with, it is just lending our voice.
At this moment of inflection in our history, the best way
to conclude is to recall Pundit Nehru’s immortal words
:
“A time comes when we need to redeem our pledge, not
wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. A moment
comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out
from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul
of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance”.
It is fitting that on this momentous occasion we take another
pledge of dedication - Every child of India in school and
learning joyfully.
This is our chance to shape a future which will inevitably
compel the world to recognize this as the Indian Century.
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