These are real-life stories from a
premier school in Mumbai, which show the deep malice that plagues our education system, where we
seldom inspire our kids to think outside the text books. Make no mistake. These
are not isolated instances, but a reflection of how an insensitive attitude stifles
scientific spirit in children.
The good news is the new kids on the
block are empowered. Many of them have easy access to information on their tabs
and personal laptops. Their learning is not confined to the text books. They
trust their teachers, but would also like to validate what is being taught in
the class. They want to speak their mind. The world is their classroom. The
question is: are we doing our part to nurture a scientific spirit in our kids? Or,
are we acting as impediment
Often, limited by our own
understanding, we impose ignorance in the name of education. The result: a
crippled mind, a product of rote education, which refuses to think. Take it to a higher plane, look
at the scientific and technology ecosystem, and you realize how innovation - a vital
pillar for human progress, is getting killed by bureaucracy, and politics.
True, red tape kills innovation
Consider this. India ranked 66th in
the Global Innovation Index 2013 among 142 nations, published by Cornell
University, INSEAD, World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and
Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) as a knowledge partner. Not a great
distinction to have, for sure. Isn’t it embarrassing?
This is the same nation on which the
great American scientist Albert Einstein once commented “We owe a lot to the
Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific
discovery could have been made."
Today, the real reason for concern is the
falling standard of scientific research:
while India's contribution to the global output has increased, it still
remains only at a modest level with no sign of a major upward swing in quantity
or quality. How can we overcome this?
Perhaps, we should take a break from
the monotonous rat race of the mundane life? Pause, and think. What could be
the cause of our plastic approach to knowledge absorption and diffusion? How do
we rid the science and technology of red-tapes? How can we add more value to
the business, society and the planet? While the reasons might be many, one
element which will find resonance in one and all is the ‘erosion of scientific
temperament’ across discipline. Agree?
We take pride in being one the most
intelligent of the living species. Yet, we have stopped challenging our grey
cells much. We have stopped thinking afresh, thinking disruptively, confined to
conformity. Rightly said, a man
flattened by conformity stays down for good. Knowledge is all about treading
the path of unknown, exploring truth, and speaking fearlessly about conformity.
We must ‘think’ global. We must think beyond
the paradigm of Jugaad. It’s time to take
a multidisciplinary approach, transcend the horizon, and explore new answers to
resolve our challenges in manufacturing, education, healthcare, economics, agriculture, politics, and ‘natural
resources’ such as water or energy. It’s time to develop new products,
services, and business model.
And, behold, Information is the Next Natural
Resource. We need to be cognizant of the ocean of data all around us. Key decisions about computing, manufacturing or marketing will
no longer be decided by intuition but by predictive analytics using elements of
the social media network such as cloud data, mobile information, and big data– converging
together. Gleaning the right insights from this Big Data will decide the
winners and the losers of the future, and pave way for sustainable development.
This necessitate that we keep our eyes
and ears open, and nurture a scientific temperament. Scientific temper is a way
of life - an individual and social process of thinking and acting - which
include questioning, observing, testing, hypothesizing, analyzing, and
communicating. We must catalyze innovation diffusion right at the bottom of the
pyramid. And, this can begin at home, even amongst kids.
Our schools can serve as innovation
hubs, if we equip our students with the ‘right information’ and encourage them
to unshackle their thoughts. How about having lessons on IP right at the school
level, and introducing a helpdesk to file a patent. Let each one, file one. Let
there be no doubt. Incentivizing innovation will acts as a potent tool and can transform
any nation into an economic superpower - creating more jobs, more wealth and
improving the living standards for all.
At the social and enterprise level we
must collaborate to free the management of science and technology from the
thickets of bureaucracy. All our problems could be settled easily if we were
only willing to think. The trouble is
we often resort to all sorts of excuses in order not to think,
because thinking is such hard work. The danger is progress stops once an
individual, enterprise or nation loses its spirit of pioneering. To accelerate
our success, we must double our failure rate, and tirelessly experiment in
pursuit of the truth.
As
a scientific ecosystem, the government, industry, academia, and public private
partnership must come together to invest much more in people, institutions and
infrastructure, and harvest the benefits of inclusive innovation to achieve dramatic economic growth.
This is high time we join hands to infuse
an open, collaborative approach into the ecosystem and find answers to the
unknown. Questioning is the only precursor to spark this.
Let Innovation thrive!!!
The
Blogger is Kiran Kumar Yellupula. The views expressed here are
purely personal. Please share your feedback at mediavalue@yahoo.com
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