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Reducing Academic Disparity

Introduction
Indian society has always given education a very high importance. Knowledge has always commanded respect across civilizations. The power the brahmans enjoyed throughout is a testamenttotheimportanceindianshaveattributedtoeducation. Eventoday,educationisseenasawaytoupwardmobility;asteppingstonetosuccess.Ithas been viewed as one of the most powerful instruments to reducing poverty and inequality. An educated youth is also key to enhancing Indias competitiveness in the global economy. Therefore, ensuring access to quality education for all, in particular for the poor and rural population,iscentraltotheeconomicandsocialdevelopmentofIndia. The Indian economy, for over half a century, has been underperforming owing to a large populationithastosupport.Thehugepopulationoncethoughtofasabaneisexpectedtofuel the Indian growth story. India, in the recent years, has been one of the fastest growing economiesaroundtheworld.Theworldisatavergeofapowershift,withtheweakeningofthe westerneconomiesandastrengtheningoftheIndianandtheChineseeconomies.Theworldis lookingtowardseastforcreationaneweconomicorderandguidingthemtowardsastableand brighterfuture.Aneed,forahugenumberofskilledprofessionals,inthenearfutureisevident. India,withitshugeyoungworkforce,isbestsuitedtofulfillthisneedforalmostallcorporations acrosstheglobe.

EducationalScenarioToday
EducationForAllwasrecognizedasthemostimportantgoalrecognizedbyourfoundersfathers ofourconstitution.Overtheyears,effortshavebeenmadetomakeitavailabletoeveryonein the country. The government efforts have been concentrated more towards Inclusion than towardsQuality.Alargepopulationhasensuredthatprimaryeducationhasstillcontinuedto bethemainstayofmostgovernmentpoliciesandinitiatives.Thehighereducationandresearch havenotgotthenecessaryfundingtocatertotheevergrowingdemandsofthepeople.

 Theformalsystemisservedbyboththepublicandprivateplayersandisunderthepurviewof theministryofHRDgovernedbytherulesandregulationsofbodiessuchasUGC,AICTE,Boards of Education etc. The informal system is mostly unregulated and is almost fully dominated by privateplayers.

Indian Educational System

Formal

Informal

Schools

Higher Education

Coaching

Vocational

Pre-School

Books, Multimedia etc

Despiteallefforts,thereisstillahugemismatchintheneedandavailabilityforqualitycentersof education. Though, the number of schools has increased over the years, making education availabletomostofthepopulation,itstillremainsineffectiveinbridgingthesocialdivideinthe absenceofproperstaffandadequateinfrastructure. Theavailabilityofqualityeducationisevengrimmeratthelevelofhighereducation.Thousands ofinstitutionshavemushroomedwhichprovideahighereducationdegreetotheaspirantsbut are unable to train them adequately to succeed in the current competitive scenario. Only a handfulofinstitutions,suchastheIIMsandtheIITs,haveanaccesstoresourcesandmeansto traintheirstudentsthroughawellreseachedacademicscheduletochurnoutfutureleadersand technologists.However,theyconstituteonlyasmallfractionofthetotalaspirants.

 Less than 10% of the total students going for higher education are able to go through training comparabletoworldstandards.Thisresultinalittledifferenceintheabilitiestranslatingintoa hugedifferencebythetimethecoursesareover.

This hampers the opportunities available to the huge majority of the population, setting their careersbackbeforetheyhaveevenstarted.

Center of Excellence - Reducing Academic Disparity

TheIndianeducationalsystem,despiteitsdeficiencieshasconstantlybeenchurningoutquality manpower in huge numbers. The Indian professionals are considered among the best in the worldandareingreatdemand.TheIndianeducationsystemisinherentlyverystrong.Thereis therefore a need to augment the current education system concentrating on knowledge acquisitionwithasystemteachingapplicabilityoftheknowledge. TheIndianlaborforcethoughhighonknowledgequotienthavebeenclassifiedasunhirablebya large number of international agencies. They have known to lack the skills required at the workplace, which today, are equally important in a workplace. Most of the institutions ignore this important facet of learning churning out conceptually sound but students having no experience of application of the concepts. This results in average or poor performance in the workplace,lowselfconfidenceandacareergraphthatlooksflat. Allofusdonothaveequaltalent,butallofusshouldhaveanequal opportunitytodevelopourtalent. JohnF.Kennedy Center of Excellence is trying to provide everyone with equal opportunities to develop their talents.Theaimistrytomaketheresources,availabletoahandfulofpeopletoday,accessibleto a larger group, providing them opportunities to develop their skills and talents. It is our belief thatifthesestudentsaregivenadequateopportunities,properguidanceandtraining,theycan beagreaterassettothecountryanddomuchbetterintheirpersonalandprofessionallives.We thusaimtofillinthevoidcreatedbythecurrenteducationalsystembetweentheIIT/IIMsand theothereducationalinstitutions.

Conclusion
Theworldisatthevergeofaneconomicpowershiftandweneedtobereadyifwewanttotake maximumadvantageatthisdefiningmoment.Theyoungpopulationdemographicisconsidered tobeIndiasgreateststrength,butitneedstobetrainedproperlytomakethemassetsandnot liabilities.Thegovernmentisplayingitspartbutithaslimitationsinitspolicymaking,functioning andimplementations.Thispresentsanopportunityfortheprivateplayersandindividualstofill inthegapsinthecurrenteducationalsystem.

For more information about the initiative please visit us at http://www.centerofexcellence.co.in or Email us at abhay@ubiquity.co.in