Education systems across the world are oddly resistant to change, that is not to say that they lack in adopting emerging trends and new technologies into the education system. In our Indian education system for instance despite the growing adoption of smart classes and other ICT systems in the classrooms and beyond, we seem to be doing more of the same old things and following the same old pattern of rote learning. For the education system to remain relevant to modern day requirements and expectations, there is an urgent need to shift the focus from being knowledge centric to one that gives equal importance to skill education. The education system must be tuned to recognize and reward creativity, original thinking, research, and innovation.
Entrepreneurship education seeks to provide students with the required knowledge, skills, and motivation to succeed as an entrepreneur in a variety of settings. This is the kind of education that has the potential to deliver a tremendous positive impact on the economy.As it is, we as a nation poses one of the most enterprising and innovative citizenry in the world. Entrepreneurship is the application of knowledge, skills, and competencies with a view to monetising a new idea or business model. Entrepreneurship is truly an asset as it is the enterprising individual who helps create much of the services, wealth, jobs, and facilities in the country. As the world increasingly moves away from an industrial economy to a knowledge based economy, the role played by these enterprising individual becomes all the more important.
With Government initiatives like Skill India and Atal Incubation center etc., there has been huge shift in Entrepreneurship education in India. It is hearty to note that the government, both at the center and the states are doing their bit in promoting entrepreneurial education in the country.The Kerala government for instance has announced provision for a one-year break to engineering students in the state to enable them to pursue their entrepreneurial ideas and ambitions. Similarly, top notch institutes including some of the premier IIT’s and IIM’s have provisions for a ‘deferred placement’ to help their students safely explore the entrepreneurial route. The Government run, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDI) also chips in my offering post graduate diploma courses in business entrepreneurship, management, NGO management, etc. It also even has a distance learning option for those unable to attend on-campus programmes and working professionals.
A lot more needs to be done for entrepreneurial education to fully develop and flourish in the country. Business schools, governments and other stake holders must join hands to create a supportive eco-system to support the growth of and improve the quality of entrepreneurial education in the country.We have a huge demographic advantage of young working age population, to cater to the huge job demand internally and to realise our aim of becoming the human resource capital of the world, the education system must evolve to support skill based education and incentivise the entrepreneurial spirit to create more job opportunities.
This article has been authored by Monica Malhotra Kandhari, MD, MBD group
