Creating a new model for Education

How can we create models of learning and entrepreneurship through utilization of the private sector?

We asked Gurjit Singh Lalli, Director at the Asia-Scotland Institute  for his take. Lalli is also Director of an USD $80 million social investment fund, and Ambassador at HRH Prince Charles Youth Business Trust, and Co-Founder of Power of Youth, among his other numerous accomplishments.

“I think India’s full of entrepreneurs, everyone in India is an entrepreneur, they are born entrepreneurs. I don’t know what happens to them when they go to school because they don’t come out as entrepreneurs.

So I think there has got to be revolutions – that we’ll be seeing in the education system – on what we teach and how we teach and these learning environments will be moving more towards self-learning environments. For example, massive open courses, TED talks, Khan Academy, just to name a few. Its out there and people can access that and hopefully with better internet and better infrastructure and cheaper tablets, they have access to self learning. I think that’s the revolution we’re going to see.

I think school, and what we teach at the moment, is probably the same as in the eighteenth century – there is mass production, mass manufacturing, its all rote learning, we’re not a richer and wider engine. I think there are going to be revolutions where people learn themselves, teach themselves and practice what they love and what they are passionate about. And I’m really excited about it. I have a two and half year old son and he already knows how to work the iPad, already knows how to you tube search for things – the power is in our hands now.

For teachers I think what we have to create in the class is not a lecturing space. When we are teaching in the class every child is going at their different pace, so what we should do is tape the lessons that we are teaching in class and let the kids learn it at home, at their own speed, and the homework that we give to the kids, they should bring it into the classroom, do their homework there, because that’s where they need support and supervision.

I think there are going to be a lot of shifts we’ll be seeing, and hopefully India will open the gates, the government will do governance and let entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs and people doing positive education, lead.”