By
Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, Ref : www.abdulkalam.com
When I visualize the five minds of the future(1. Disciplinary
mind, 2. Synthesizing mind, 3. Creative mind, 4. Respectful mind, 5. Ethical
mind), I have a message for the all the teachers and students. Nurturing all
the five minds is possible, if you build the following five capacities among
the youth. What are those five capacities? The five capacities are: research
and inquiry, creativity and innovation, use of high technology, entrepreneurial
and moral leadership are the five capacities required to be built through the
education process.
Research and enquiry: The 21st century is about the management of all the knowledge
and information we have generated and the value addition we bring to it. We
must give our students the skills with which they find a way through the sea of
knowledge that we have created and continue with life long learning. Today, we
have the ability, through technology, to really and truly teach ourselves to
become the life-long learners. This is required for sustained economic
development
Creativity and innovation: The management of knowledge in the 21st century is beyond the
capacity of a single individual. The amount of information that we have around
is overwhelming. The management of knowledge therefore must move out of the
realm of the individual and shift into the realm of the networked groups. The
students must learn how to manage knowledge collectively. When the information
is networked the power and utility of the information grows as square as stated
by Metcalfe's law. Information that is static does not grow. In the new digital
economy information that is circulated creates innovation and contributes to
national wealth.
Capacity to use high technology: Every student in our colleges should learn
to know how to use the latest technologies for aiding their learning process.
Colleges should equip themselves with adequate computing equipment, laboratory
equipment, and Internet facilities and provide an environment for the students
to enhance their learning ability. In the midst of all of the technological
innovations and revolutions we cannot think that the role of the teachers will
be diminished. In fact the teacher will become even more important and the
whole world of education will become teacher assisted and would help in
"tele-porting" the best teacher to every nook and corner of the
country and propagate the knowledge. There is a great opportunity and need for
content generation in many fields of education which can be used all over the
country.
Entrepreneurship: The aptitude for entrepreneurship should be cultivated right
from the beginning and in the University environment. We must teach our
students to take calculated risks for the sake of larger gain, but within the
ethos of good business. They should also cultivate a disposition to do things
right. This capacity will enable them to take up challenging tasks later.
Moral leadership: Moral leadership involves two aspects. First it requires the
ability to have compelling and powerful dreams or visions of human betterment.
Moral leadership requires a disposition to do the right thing and influence
others also to do right things. In sum, inquiry, creativity, technology,
entrepreneurial and moral leadership are the five capacities required to be
built through the education process. I would suggest, all the educational
institutions to consider carving out a six months programme from the overall
time available for the graduate and post-graduate programme. In this period the
students should be equipped with knowledge on subjects like leadership,
finance, marketing, inter-personal relationship, negotiation, entrepreneurship
and ethical values. The students should be provided a certificate or a diploma
along with the professional degree. This type of education will equip the youth
with employable skills needed by the industry and also give the confidence to
the youth to take up entrepreneurship as an independent venture.
If we develop in all our students these five capacities, we will
produce "Autonomous Learner" a self-directed, self controlled,
lifelong learner who will have the capacity to both, respect authority and at
the same time is capable of questioning authority, in an appropriate manner.
These are the leaders who would work together as a "Self-organizing
Network" and transform any nation into a prosperous nation. The most
important part of the education is to imbibe the confidence among the student
is the spirit of "we can do it".
By, Dr. APJ Abdulkalam
www.abdulkalam.com
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