Beijing has got its arithmetic right, says Anand Kumar
Even 2,000 miles away from his Ramanujan School of Mathematics in native Bihar, numbers are very much on Anand Kumar's mind.
Not the kind of complex numbers he usually puts up every morning on the rickety blackboard he uses to teach his students, but a simple statistic which he sees as a strong indictment of India's inadequacies in higher education.
“In the last 20 years, 13 students from China have won the International Mathematical Olympiad,” Mr. Kumar says. “And India hasn't won the prize even once.”
Mr. Kumar knows more than most what it takes to nurture academic talent in maths and sciences. He rose to international prominence through his school's ambitious and path-breaking “Super 30” initiative, which has had remarkable success in preparing underprivileged students for the challenging Indian Institute of Technology Joint Entrance Examination (IIT-JEE).
Mr. Kumar says he has long held a fascination for China — in particular, its success in producing young mathematicians and scientists. So he decided to pay a short visit to this country en route to Canada, where he will give lectures this week at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.
“In the coming 15 years, I believe that all Nobel Prize winners and Fields Medal winners will come from China,” he told The Hindu in an interview in Beijing, referring to the most prized award in international mathematics. “Their present is very bright,” he says, “so their future is even brighter.”
He cites China's success at the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO), a prestigious annual competition for high school students, as an indicator of the country's success in education. China has ranked first 17 times since its students began participating in the Olympiad in 1985, according to the country rankings published on the IMO website. India has never ranked first.
China's recent success is even more stunning: in the last 12 years, China ranked first on 10 occasions, and ranked second twice. India only managed two top-ten results in this time with a highest position of seven, ranking 23rd and 38th in the last two competitions.
Mr. Kumar acknowledges that Olympiad results may not be an accurate assessment of the qualities of an education system, but he certainly sees a lesson in them.
He says he is interested in understanding how China achieved its success and what Indian higher education can learn from China's more centralised system, which invests more attention and resources into training young mathematicians up from the district level.
He also sees larger lessons in China's primary and secondary school education system, and is impressed by its reach, and in particular the provision of free and compulsory nine-year education in every village and town.
In many parts of rural China, the government has set up larger primary and secondary boarding schools that cater to several districts, and provide better quality education than that available in small towns and villages. Mr. Kumar thinks following this model might make sense in India. “It is not realistic to expect to have one good teacher in every village,” he said.
“Schooling is weak in India because of a lack of teachers,” he added. “We need to invest more in training our teachers.”
To produce the world's best mathematicians and scientists, India's focus must be on the grass roots and on schools, than an obsession he sees with colleges and universities.
“Providing a good education up to the secondary level is the most important thing,” he said. “In our country, 70 per cent of children get educated in rural areas, so the reach has to be improved. The sad fact is that the government education system is no longer working.”
I agree with Anand Sir.I prepared for engg exams from his coaching institute Ramanujan School of Mathematics.He wants the younger generations of India to be more creative and innovative rather than just a typical student preparing for competitions and all that,working traditionally in a fixed style.He likes the Chinese system of education because the chinese students are doing very well in the IMO.And,this is because they are working like that.They are being trained that way.He wants us to create something new and this will happen only when we start thinking like a scientist.Our country will not develop until we get some real intelligent people who can think for something new.We can't develop just by opening new IIT's and producing more IITian's.Our country needs to produce creative people in every field and is all we need to do at this stage.
We need to hire chinese teachers and also our schools have to colloborate with their schools to get a benefit out of their training and teaching methods.
The Govt Run school Education system has been abysmal. worried parents even rickshaw pullers, barbers etc are desperate to get their children a private school education, because the private schools are maintaining some decent standards. That is a fact. Instead of trying to bring the Govt schools upto par, and level the playing field for all, we get a killer act, cynically titled The Right To Education ACT. What it is, is an attempt to force the private sector to pick up the mess of the Govt schools and dumb down every body. It will have the same effect as Gresham's Law of Bad currency on education. The bad will drive out the good soon. You are already seeing it with students misbehaving, killing techers, good teachers quitting etc. It is going to get a lot worse when RTE starts to bite.
With gurukulam tradition of a long past in India ,we have a good education system in place; no doubt.. our students even from remote villages have proved their excellence in professional courses. only thing to worry is we lack developing application mind in children right from the basic learning process till end. The ABL system tried in the state is a good effort on the right direction. But the sad part of it is, it lacks effectiveness on floor like any other government sponsored schemes.All that matters is, it is the attitude, we lack, in pushing the core competence of our youths up the HR chain in this country ;
Math olympiads or number of Nobel prize winners are no measure for education or how well one does in his/her life: period. Many successful people in life did not win any "prizes" or achieve meritorious awards. One of my friends, who was extraordinarily brilliant and a nerd, educated in the IIT and in the US, committed suicide a few months ago: in his mid twenties. Can you conclude that he was "successful"?
I would like to thank The Hindu for bringing out such news items / articles and I wish it is more regular in mainstream news papers and channels to create a benchmarking on every sphere of excellence. Through this constant awareness news articles, one can hope the hole that India is going into - cash for vote, scams, dynasty politics, films etc. Our nation got a lot of talent and if the focus of the powers (people, politicians )can be turned towards the progressive nature, we can surely reach bigger heights. So, my request is for the media houses to vigorously ignite the need, passion for excellence.
Bihar has always given pathbreaking leaders in almost all areas in this country from social engineering to science. Mr Anand Kumar is a pride of nation and deserves Bharat Ratna. He pointed out very correctly that we need to strengthen our school and education system. We have now started suffering. we are already very late. Not just math but in almost all science and tech fields we are on the receiving end. But this all is due to the fact that China considers its responsibility towards its people and care for their life, while our nation and most of the people here think only for themselves narrowly and selfishly without any social responsibility, and thus we get such government and leaders whom we disrespect too. Is not it an irony and hypocrisy. Government should take step to make education enjoyment and thing of honesty. Pay teachers the highest and get and create best brains so that they make a better India ahead. Otherwise be ready to cry.
The main stress in the article is about giving emphasis to school
education. Today, in Kerala, for example we have lot of english medium
schools...but most of them are handled by average or below average
teachers.
The Vijabheri program originally started by Malappuram District
Council had a great impact in improving the standard of education in
rural government schools. It was a successful model which worked.
A nationwide move like that of Vijayabheri will be workable solution
to empower the rural schools.
Quote "The sad fact is that the government education system is no
longer working"....Unquote. This closing sentence is very simplistic.
The lasting solution is to improve the existing facilities, not to
leave the education system to the hands of money making
industrialists.
India pays its teachers peanuts across the board from primary school
through university. None of our universities are highly ranked either,
whereas China has many. The current mindset of "anyone can teach" is
creating a situation where the most talented teachers have no incentive
to join the profession. That's the real silent battle we are losing.
It is too much of a simplification to assume that kids performance in winning the competitions and getting through the entrance examinations will result in Nobel and Field prizes. Neither Ramanujan nor Raman, the great mathematician and Physicist may not have made into IIT of today. The disciplinary training will produce a good work force and not a creative mind and that is what is needed to win Nobel and Field prizes. The creative minds are all over the world and all the country has to do is provide the opportunities.
I see many comments on blaming the government. My view is, government schools are welcoming the educated youths to participate the guest lectures on weekends.. How many of them were participated or willing to participate in order to enhance the students knowledge.. Please try to teach what ever you know to the rural kids and make our country the place of rich knowledge. One more point is, Science and maths is not everything to prove ourselfs sound in education. Growth should always be in all regions like economics, arts, politcs, etc.
First of all I would like to congratulate Mr.Anandkumar for his tremendous achievement in giving nearly cent % results in iit jee coaching for his students.I hope that he continues in same manner with the new pattern to be introduced from 2013 onwards.now regarding IMO,MATHS OLMPIAD AND OUR POOR PERFORMANCE there r 3 main reasons
1. syllabus of MATHS OLMP.is totally different from our school[primary and secondary level] 2. our top brains concentrate for top ranks in iitjee, not interested in Maths olmp. but more interested in PHYSICS OLMP. and getting gold medals in it [ also syllabi is sync.with that of iit jee] 3. lack of motivated and good teachers in maths. Thus there is total lack of awareness, dedication , proper giudance,and motivation among students,parents and teachers resulting in lacklustre performance
All of us are very proud of our past.We say we contributed "zero" to the world of mathematics. We bask in our glorious past without remembering what is going on around us. We must come out of our 'pride" remembering that pride is a vice and not a virtue.Once that happens, then our contributions in all fields will be commendable and we can compete well with our contemporaries well.
It's in the very best interest of our country that we adapt our
education system, especially school education system, to match with
the best of the world. As Paul Krugman once said, if America's(US)
success can be defined in one word, that word would be "education".
It is true for every nation on this earth. We should hope that our
politicians make sincere efforts to provide 'quality' education
accessible and affordable to each and every Indian.
True dedication is the basis for true foundation in any field.Instant
results through short cut methods will get us no where.This was the real
India of yester years.The other countries are trying to emulate us whie
we have lost track and direction.
Well said, one day India will surely loose its knowledge edge if our education system is not corrected, none of us will be present to watch that but the future generation will surely blame it.
anand sir, a big name now, but how many remember ABHYANAND SIR, super-
30 was the vision of both but one has come forward to cash this for
getting space on tv, newspapers and social media the other is doing
his job silently.
many don't know the truth. actually in his so called super-30 many
students with ample resources also get admission, he doesn't discloses
the name of students reading in his institute till the very last day
of results and on the day of announcement of results declare their
names. also many reading in ramanujam school of mathematics also get
the honour of being a super-30ian if they got lucky enough to crack
jee.
but this is not the real issue . what we can still learn from this is
that similar efforts should be put forward to tap the talent in other
areas also like music, sports, art and literature.such efforts will
promote children not to sacrifice his passion just because his parents
don't have the money for a proper training.
Yes we NEED to strive for a MATHS Literate Society! For..What very every one looks for is better R-K-M : better Roti-Kapada-Makhaan which in education terms mean Read-Knowledge-MATHS. We NEED a MATHS literate society! Everyone can ENJOY Maths if exposed in simple way eg say adopt FOLK-CAP way!.[see Education express April 20,2007 [Southern edition : The joy of Mathematics] ALL [KG2PG,Parents,anyone] can get get a mastery of basic English language if Lady-Bird series type of books used! likewise everyone can become fluent in Basic Hindi usage [ca.750 Sight Words & Phrases -SWPs only!], 650 SWPs of Maths, 1600 Chemistry SWPs etc. Its just POSSIBLE, and this can be realied @ NO EXTRA cost IF authorities get Text Books prepared in an 4-column format [see Hindu Edu+,May 25,2009 titled For effective reading & good Teaching]. COMPETENT authorities need to work in this direction to make a knowledge based education leading to Super Billion!
If the zeros that are required to make up the $25 billion stashed in foreign banks by our leaders (political and business) are anything to go by, it is clear that all our leaders are very good in numbers! It is we, the mAsses, who are poorer in numbers.
Re: “In the coming 15 years, I believe that all Nobel Prize winners and Fields Medal winners will come from China,”
Before making the above sweeping statement, Mr. Anand should have researched about the past Nobel prize winners of China. Till date, only three Chinese nationals & other seven people of Chinese descent has won Nobel prizes - excluding the 14th Dalai Lama (i.e., Tenzin Gyatso). So, only 10 people of China or Chinese descent has ever got Nobel prizes compared to, say, country like U.S. which has won over 300 Nobel prizes. Even U.K. & Germany has won over 100 Nobel prizes each.
As far as India is concerned, Four Indian nationals - namely R. Tagore, C.V. Raman, Mother Teresa & Amartya Sen - and other five people of Indian descent - namely Hargobind Khorana, Mohammad Abdus Salam, S. Chandrasekhar, V.S. Naipaul & V. Ramakrishnan - has won Nobel prizes.
So, when it comes to research field, Chinese are not better than Indians.
China has brought the population explosion under control.Whatever the
Govt. does reaches the people at the expected time and level.In our
country nothing can be predicted,or processed.Not only should the
education system of China be observed,total administration as a whole
should be understood and followed including tackling of criminals.Every
single thing is dependent upon the Govt.
Mr. Kumar has said well about our bleak educational system. I have often felt that our Indian children are sharper and brighter at the begining only to fade away in to darkness at the end due to an ineffective educational system!!!
schooling system of india has reached to a modernisation trend only in
urban areas of india yet to reach the rural areas..but alot needs to be
done by the govt in improving the system and giving teachers all they
need and to the extent they think it best..then only schholing system in
india will get developed... but it has been seen by the govt that perks
be given to bureaucrats and tax deducted form teachers making the system
worse than before..... we should try to activate the system where in all
will participate.......
Having interviewed Indians for the past 30 years I can say that
most Indians are exceptionally good at solving problems. However,
they are poor at defining a problem. That is reflected in their
teaching methods as well. Process vs Analysis is focused on rather
than Problem Definition. If they can change their curriculum to
focus on Problem Definition, Problem solving is a breeze. One
notices that most Indians students cannot form a Linear or
Algebraic equation from a word problem. But are great in solving
them once they are give one. Its also the same situation at the IIT
JEE. If the toppers in the IIT JEE think they are good, let them
crack the Japan Institute of Tech entrance exam. They just stare at
the paper blankly. That is the problem with Indians at the Math
Olympiad and indeed in everything else in India. Indians need to
change they WAY they teach. Also the political consideration of
teaching Hindi over Math and Science is debilitating to Indian
Students, a waste of time.
Basic education and high school education is most important for a vast country like India where millions of Indians looking for work every day.If their basic education is good they can be trained in many other skills,India does needs more skilled trades people then university graduates.If you go in any multi storey building or five star hotel in India ,you can see the poor quality of workman ship .I have not seen any toilet,or bath room with quality workman ship,poor tiling jobs, water does not drain properly in bathrooms and towels are placed to stop water flowing in hotel rooms. Shonky electrical works etc etc. millions of skilled trades people needed for building industry and can be trained in building trades with good basic education
Mr Kumar, can you eradicate the "quota" system, at least from teaching department of
India. The worst teachers come from this quota system.
There should be only the "standard" system where only the ranks can prove your
ability to teach and not the caste. India is never going to get a right direction, thanks
to all the political leaders who look only for votes. Who cares for the spirit of India?
The progress China has made, India will need at least another 100 years to achieve.
Better China takes over India, and then India can progress in 5 to 10 years, otherwise
India is going to be only a "Rambharose" country.
Setting up larger Primary & secondary schools with boarding facility combining several villages/district level is a very good idea. This is something, the government should consider. Most of the students from villages do not have good homely environment for studying..Most of them get diverted towards helping their family considering to work & hence drop out off the schools. Education should be the back-bone & this helps for building a civilized society.
The quality and level of public education in India is appalling. Education should be taken up as the most important national issue and should receive the maximum attention from the government. Education is the only foundation on which national prosperity can be built. It could also be pointed out that instead of trying to form strategic alliance against China, India should form strategic alliance with China and the strategy should be to learn from them positive things that we could adapt.
As all of us know that the present system of education in india is very
bad and indian government is fully responsible for this.because 'if road
and destination both are foggy then getting lost become a real
possibility'
Absolutely, we need to build more primary and secondary schools so that ALL children irrespective of background gets a seat. This, I believe, is the ONLY way to remove the menace of reservations and "caste" identities in our social and political rhetoric.
The article is not only describing present situation of Indian mathematics but lack of governance approach toward Indian education system.On the eve of birthday ceremony of Ramanujan prime minister Manmohan singh appeal for best practices in Indian mathematics but after that no body talk about single forward step in that direction. Our government should take lesson from Chinese government to improve education system in India.they should not only talk it on certain occasion but there should be some forward step in this direction.According to census 2011 70% Indian population are literate but in reality they consider a person iterate either he can read or write any thing in any of language.
There should be compulsory and free education for all the Indian citizen at least till higher secondary. Literacy rate should be counted on basis of number of people passed in matriculation.
Are we sending each of one child to school today? There are still many children out there who do not even enroll in schools. I believe the government schooling mechanism holds good to solve only one problem, basic schooling. I believe we should not squarely put the blame on government. Private schools do not have any such limitations but why do we not see any such performance from them?
two factor which has hampered development of india are our grand old education system and gran grand old judicial system.nowa a days our country is missing quality education on basic level.in schools and colleges teachers (which is also lowest category product of this edu system)are only passing thier time withot any quality result..
I am in fully agreement with Mr.Kumar and his efforts in educating rural children upto IIT. Hats off Mr.Kumar. However, the tailor made education system which prevails throughout India is to be first streamlined and each government must realize that the primary education is not only completes in providing mid day meals. The meals have to be given to children if only they attend the school and show results. On the other hand, teachers have to be fully equipped with all resources instead of reading story books during class hours. The worst part is that many rural schools do not have proper building nor trained teachers. There should be an independent body to monitor the level of education being provided upto higher school levels.
Well articulated view of the current malaise in Indian education system. Unfortunately most of schools only concentrate on whats in the syllabus rather than giving focusing on learning abilities on individual kids. I was bad at Maths and always feared it. Ultimately it affected my score in engg since i only scraped through maths. I hope young generation have better option to master Maths.
The ranking in mathematics olympiad does not necessarily show the quality of education or for that matter quality of mathematics education. Its the same as ranking in IIT-JEE does not show the quality of education in IIT or its relevance in science. If people set their goals on examination without understanding the underlying principals, the examination itself is useless. I feel the quality of education is linked to teachers and world over there is a problem of good teachers. So in order to improve the education the most basic thing we need to do is to re-establish being a teacher as noble profession and financial remuneration of the teacher needs to be inline with the top of the line in the society like the investment bankers, doctors and other professionals like CA, lawyers and engineers.
This is a very positive image that Mr. Anand Kumar has projected of
China - well in contrast with US president's point of view, who has been
very fervently projecting china as a pool of copycats and intellectual
property rights violator!
I completely agreed on the view of Mr. Anand Kumar. Basic/fundamental education is most important than the college education because that create foundation for children. If we want more elite scholar in the mathematics and science; we should follow the way of China for the excellence. The education system should be centralized and government should take some initiatives for its development. In the education sector our government is totally lacking (No proper infrastructure,lack of quality teachers, lack of resources); Government should focus on the primary education of the children AND not the commercialization of education in the higher education starting from Undergraduate Courses. Only the privileged child get the quality education in our country. Whatever the education system is in our country; the respective government is liable.
This is similar to how they focused on olympics and winning medals. They have a target and working towards it. In India we are not caring about improvements. We are not benchmarking our system so it is believed to be the best. Like frogs in well. Good people like Anand Kumar is getting media coverage. Hope the relevant ministry officials and educators listen to him. Well done Anand, glad you are learning from China, Canada.
This is a very thought-provoking article.It depicts the condition of our present education system.India being a birth place of Vedas and famous mathematicians like Aryabatta, S.Ramanujan etc., today is facing a hard time of scarcity of talented, dedicated teachers like Archarya Nagarjuna, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and many more.Eventhough being a home place for well reputed institutes like IITs,IISc s most of the Indian students are phobic about Maths.If this is to continue for some more years, Chinese youth will surely bag our oppurtunities.
Recently I had read an article in The Hindu, about a workshop organised by Srinivasa Academy of Maths Talent to Maths teachers for students of Standards 6 to 8.Such kind of activities must be conducted by our Govt.
“Schooling is weak in India because of a lack of teachers,” he added. “We need to invest more in training our teachers.” This is something we need to take from this article. Human resource development in this country especially the villages is so weak. We need to have at least one school in each village and we need lakhs of teachers for to get rid of this lacking educational system.
If 'overpopulation' is the root of all problems of our
country,'education' is certainly the base for all solutions.
But the mass perspective about education also needs to be
revised which is currently limited to mathematics and science so as to attribute equal
emphasis to social sciences including history,civics and geography.
Eventually,the need for a 'uniform national curriculum' which takes
into consideration all the complexities of India with regards to its culture,religion and linguistic
diversity is a desperate one.
The children need to grow up knowing what the term 'India' stands
for and having a sense of integrated national identity which would turn them into
responsible,civilised citizens of this country.
This is a shallow understanding that excelling at maths is a criteria
for determining the quality of students. Though I agree with him that
quality of education and teachers in India is deplorable, education
should provide a all round development to the student rather than focusing on any one particular subject and let's not make them prisoners
of society
The problem of the lack of good teachers is mainly due to the poor remuneration package offered to this profession. Teaching profession lays so low in the preferred choice of any aspiring employment seeker. When one is unable to get a job in IT, manufacturing industry, banks etc., he / she turns to teaching out of sheer frustration. Also, for women, teaching is a safer bet as they can mange their timings between their profession & the family. Hence, they also choose teaching because of family pressures to meet the ends.
Persons like Mr. Kumar are very rare.
The Government must raise the salaries of this noble profession & attract the good talent. Only then the slide in the quality of the teachers can be arrested.
The sooner we do, India will benefit.
Regards,
V. Govindarajan
Singapore
Education system in India has become more commercial and academic. It has turned in to a profit making industry. Yes, we are far away from China in this regard and this gap will go on increasing with the current system of education in India.
Dear Sir,
It is sad to take note of this bad-condition prevailing in the Math-Field in India. We are talking so much about our Historical Math-Advancements. But the present condition is so worrying that we have not own even a single title in IMO during the last 20 years. It does not mean that there is no Mathematical-Talent in India. This condition implys that India is not taking serious note of this. India should take correct measures to see that our students excel in the IMO. Our students are next to none in the MATH-WORLD. Whgat they need is only right direction and motivation. I think the goverment will come forward to do its role in timely manner.
With thanks.
Ravi,
39 / 197 B : First Cross,
Velayutha Nager,
Jayankondam.
India not only has a dysfunctional education system, the current govt. seems determined to destroy what little competitiveness there is within the system. I am referring to proposals to abolish exams till class 8 in govt. schools, remove class 10 exams and dilute the rigor of the IIT entrance exam. How will this serve the poor or indeed the scheduled castes? They will be even more dependent on reservations and be unable to compete with privately educated students and fall further behind. That will lead to a greater decline in social cohesion, of which there is little in our country. We are moving backwards when China is moving forwards. Strangely there is little debate on this in national media. Indians don't care - we are busy securing the future for our children to think about the nation or its future.
Sure, Chinese might have won the Olympiad 13 times in a row. But, that doesn't mean we have to adapt a similar system to that of China. Young Indian students already face a lot of stress to secure ranks in competitive examinations and technical examinations. We need to change our education system, but I don't think Chinese system is the ideal one. We have to encourage innovative and creative thinking, not just the Math/Engineering skills. Its unfortunate that none of the younger generations today are encouraged to pursue careers in art & creative fields, but instead we have a whole generation of engineers. Countries like Finland, have an excellent education system, but Finland is much more homogenous than India.
.India has started sliding in all fields with pervasive corruption in our culture.India has the most malnourished children in the world.What will happen to their brain growth is obious.Our PM described it as a national shame.But did nothing.Not too long ago,a huge amount of grain meant for students,disappeared.It was sold in black market and sent to Bangladesh.The grain was exported in wagons supplied by the fedral government.Did anyone think about the half-starved children? Was anybody punished?
Many teachers,in rural areas,do not show up for work for months and yet get paid.Nothing is being done about it. India is supposed to be land of Mathematics.The students are encouraged to memorise the formulae that they can plug in easily. The problem solving is not encouraged.India does not have toWHO follow the Chinese model.We know the solutions.But we lack the actions.
The barber's son has to be a barber. Leave higher education to the priest's sons
and daughters. This is very true, especially in the rural areas. Why else the need to specify the religion and worse still, the caste. I heard that even the Christians and Muslims in India have this divide. To manufacture mathematicians, (thats right, the Chinese do systematically manufacture professionals and sportsman), India has to take a hard look at the pathetic need for one to identify caste status!
An insightful interview with Mr. Anand Kumar, the architecht of path breaking "Super 30" initiative in a underdeveloped state of Bihar. Could not agree more with Mr. Kumar on the emphasis at the grass root level of primary education rather than on the obsession with higher level; primary education is the foundation on which stands the higher education.
I only half agree with Mr. Kumar's prediction about all future Nobel Prizes going to China. That could be true about the science prizes, but the literature, Economy and peace prizes are all about agreeing with the Western world.
As Anand rightly puts it, until we can guarantee and enforce compulsory primary education to all, particularly girls who are often the most discriminated when it comes to schooling, the future is bleak. Slogans, billboards and adverts can mask the basic inadequacies of the rotten system only so much. Why is it we had to go through so many hoops to pass the RTE bill? That in itself doesn't mean much because States are free to do what they want under the powers of the constitution. Meanwhile the States a.k.a bureaucrats, politicians are free to loot, plunder and make merry...
Bottom line is we need proper leadership that is strict, accountable and responsible, who can run the system with an iron fist. It's not dictatorship but being accountable to the position one is hired for. We don't even have a PM or President whom we can call a leader of this caliber, leave aside a panel of bureaucrats.Until then we should be satisfied that we have a few inspiring teachers and inspired kids.
Yes what he says is 100% true. Our education system is failure model. There is no invention from our country. Everything is need to mugged up by kids whether they like or not. Exam answer paper should match the sentence as in the text book or otherwise fail. Education institution need run by rowdies and thongs. Its a money business.
The top of the cream, the very best in Indian schools in mathematics have to be picked each year and coached extensively to the max by the best coaches/mentors and it is very possible that Indian students can match with the chinese; if only it is tried in full earnest. Last saturday on BBC weeknights, I viewed the chinese problems with their labor force and riots which occured in June 2011 which says NOT all is well in china, so if things are done well in Indian schools with the cream and the very best students, India can produce the firsts in mathematics olympiads in the very near future.
About Kumar saying that all nobel prizes winners will be chinese in 15 years is very far fetched and I would be here in 2025 and 2030 and will believe it when I see it but my prediction is that the chances are 0% of that occuring. By the way so far with all the problems in India, the country has produced more noble prize winners than china has done so far.
Mr.Anand Kumar is one of the best rural brains modern india has ever produced. but our governments seems to be not impressed by his achievements. Chinese are very clever people, hence they didn't loose the opportunity to understand his brilliance.our leaders who considers themselves as the most brilliant always hesitate to appreciate the good work of our countrymen.hence india has lost many of its brilliant people in various fields for a few dollars to their competitive countries in west and other developing countries. when will our politicians understand their own limitations. let us not fail ourselves in identifying the talents of our own people.
When the politicians have no time from amassing corruption monies and safely parking them in Swiss bank accounts, how can they think about Math or Science?
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