At the 14th edition of the Infosys Prize event in Bangaluru, NR Narayana Murthy founder of Infosys express his feelings over the Indian education system and urged the government of India for its reorientation that would be directed towards analytical questioning to arrive at solutions to real-world issues. He said because of the “tyranny of coaching classes”, even the IITs are becoming a victim of learning by rote. He also said in our country, the inability to use research to solve the immediate pressing crises around us is mostly due to a lack of instilling inquisitiveness at an early age, which in turn detaches between pure or applied research. And the only solution to this problem is instead of just passing the examinations by rote learning, reorienting teaching in schools and colleges is important towards Socratic questioning to solve real-world problems. He also added that the quality of scientific and technological research will lead the nation’s progress on the economic and social front.
He advised the government to come up with an institute, similar to the Geneva Science and Diplomacy Anticipator (GESDA) in Europe, for research on future technologies and science and urged Indian students to take up applied sciences as a career stream.
