Any discussion on the state of science in India must begin with discussing how our children learn science in schools. Most of our children are forced to learn by rote in schools and colleges. We have to help them become adept at analytical thinking and problem solving.
The urgent need is to train our children to translate what they learn in the classroom into an understanding of the natural and physical phenomena of science in the real world, and thinking of solving problems in the society around them. Independent thinking and a healthy skepticism of widely-accepted theories should be placed above students’ mastery of school notes.
Let me cite just two books that can enhance thinking power and problem solving capability of our high school children. “Thinking Physics: Understandable Practical Reality”by Lewis Carroll Epstein is known to help them appreciate the role of physics in understanding daily-life phenomena, and, therefore, improve their curiosity and critical thinking.
For students of high school economics, I would recommend “The Economic Naturalist: Why Economics explains almost everything”by Robert Frank. This book will help students think critically about fundamental concepts of economics. We would have succeeded in helping the next generation to think critically and to analyse deeply if our children start using such books.
There is an overwhelming need to shift our focus from passing examinations to understanding the concepts. In my conversations with several students of computer science at Infosys, I am sad that most of them had forgotten even the fundamental concepts like semaphores within three months of their examinations!
We should also create platforms for competition in scientific and mathematical thinking in every small town in the country so that the kids are encouraged to think critically. The best of these should be sent to state level, regional level and national level competitions. The winners at the national level should be sent to international competitions so that our children can compete with the best in the world. We should also submit our school system to global comparisons and benchmarks to measure where we stand. I was told by a very enlightened bureaucrat that we used to do it in the past but stopped it when we found we were consistently rated low!
These suggestions aimed at reforming our school level teaching may seem very ambitious but several countries have indeed succeeded in changing their educational systems using some of these well-known ideas. Singapore and South Korea are two good examples to emulate.
Let me now come to some reforms at the college level. The universities that have created the most impact in the world have excelled both in research and in teaching. Therefore, our higher educational institutions must focus not just on teaching but on research as well. Currently, our research output — measured by papers published in internationally-acclaimed conferences and peer-reviewed journals, and patent filings — lags behind China, the U.S., and several developed countries.
The best way to improve our performance in this area is to work on developing a research-oriented mindset among undergraduate students by focusing on independent and critical thinking. For instance, expecting students to read the material to be discussed in the class, devoting a small part of the class time to just teaching critical issues in the material that the students have studied at home, and allotting most of the class time to questions and answers can be the first steps in improving curiosity and analytical thinking.
A classical example of such a method would be the well-known course onJusticeby Prof. Michael Sandel at Harvard University. This is a very popular undergraduate course in Philosophy and is held at the Sanders Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts to accommodate around 1,500 students who take this class every year. The course video is available free for downloading atITunesUniversity.
It may be a good idea to encourage our undergraduates to spend a semester doing independent research on a topic chosen by them in consultation with their teachers. The outcome of research is less important compared with a change in the students’ mindset. At the least, this scheme will help our youngsters gain confidence in independent and critical thinking. Thanks to such a scheme, I have seen several bright students excel in research at Cornell, Stanford and Tokyo Universities. In fact, professors at many well-known universities in the U.S., have told me about the effectiveness of this scheme in attracting young minds to research careers.
Such a focus on analytical thinking and problem solving is extremely important in a country like India that is riddled with socio-economic and developmental challenges. These challenges to our inclusive growthactually represent a significant opportunity and source of inspiration for our young researchers. In a country where 350 million-plus people lack access to decent primary education, healthcare, shelter, safe drinking water and basic sanitation, a research-and-problem-solving orientation among the young will play a seminal role in improving the overall quality of life for the poorest of the poor. We have to encourage such efforts with awards and recognition. This is where theInfosys Prizesfrom Infosys will, hopefully, play a role in saluting the efforts of our young researchers.
The only way we can ignite the minds of our children and youngsters is by making them proud of the impact of our educational institutions on our society. The world will recognize our institutions and salute them if these institutions help transform the lives of every Indian like many of the universities in the developed countries have done. We would have arrived when we have ten Indian high schools among the global fifty, and ten Indian universities among the global fifty. This will happen when our universities and institutes compare favourably with universities like MIT, Harvard, Oxford, Ecole Polytechnique, Cornell, Cambridge, and Tokyo University in their research output, citation index and patents.
I am optimistic and confident we can achieve this. We can do it as long as we supplement our desire to get there with a single-minded focus on speed and execution. We have an abundance of scientific talent. That has never been in doubt. It is now up to us to unleash the full potential of our young minds.
N.R. Narayana Murthy
Trustee - Infosys Science Foundation and
Chairman Emeritus Infosys Limited,
Bangalore, India
Comments:
For improvement in higher-education, fundamentally, focus (financially as well as otherwise) needs to spread out to universities and not solely be on the few institutes as is the case now. Fundamental sciences need to be linked to engineering, engineering shouldn't exist as some kind of island only in engineering colleges. And, very importantly, quality courses need to be started as evening courses which working people can also attend. Flexibility in graduate courses is a must -- undergraduates in industry often want to study, but after a couple of years of work worry whether they'll get through the standard entrance exams, and even if they do, might not be able to support themselves if they do studies full-time etc. Taking courses as independent students must be encouraged etc.
I am a material scientist with extensive research and government policy development experience in Australia in the fields of science, technology, commercialisation of research outputs and industry development.I find the article by Mr Narayana Murthy is stimulating. In order to make the strategy effective and workable, a government and industry partnership can be developed to train the teachers. This should be the first step. The main challenge is to change the attitude and the capability of teachers, both at secondary and tertiary levels, for a reorientation of the system from rote learning to learning that develops thinking and analysis. I am happy to be part of the exercise, free of cost, if an opportunity exists
I totally agree with Narayana Murthy sir. Our teaching techniques are crude and outdated. If takes a look at Indian history, our land has been the leader in driving education in various courses for a long time. We have encouraged various types of research be it science, medicine, yoga, art, folkfore, everything was covered under the ambit of education in those times. But now, students resent studying, despise examinations, even loose their lives for failing in them. A black mark on education which cannot be removed. Students must develop scientific temper, they must not shun our heritage, culture as it is the essence of our civilisation. Guru Raghavendra Swamy has said "Without right living, right thinking will never come". One must think in the right direction to reach his destination.
I am a faculty member at JNU (New Delhi). I appreciate the vision of Mr. Murthy and look forward to his leadership in transforming the scientific landscape of India. As we all know, one of the major reasons which has curtailed the growth of scientific research in India is the lack of incentive to do great research once a permanent faculty position is awarded. I would suggest two steps be taken in this regard: 1) Implement a tenure-track system for faculty appointments at all universities and institutes in India (similar to that of NCBS).2) Provide monetary incentives for publishing in top journals like Nature, Science, Physical Review Letters, etc.The above two ideas are not new, but have the required potential to invigorate Indian science.
School students should be encouraged to carry out experiments (to inject interest in science and maths). In UK, National Science and Engineering Society conducts annual competition for children aged between 11 and 18 yrs in all fields. Usually, the school teachers guide the chidren to carryout simple experiments. In April 2011, one 11 yr old student tested the eye sight of people who watched TV for more than 3 hours and took the top award for that age group. He did not need anything fancy and costly, other than opticians help in getting the eyesight testing poster and support from the parents and teachers. My son came up 2nd by observing the effect of salt and acid on plant growth- carried out at home! Why not some National Science body with support from the government test such activities in India? College faculty can volunteer to mentor students by targeting schools nearby.
In India, unlike in the US, the best institutions of higher learning are in the governmental sector. IMMs, IITs, Law Schools, Regional Engg Colleges, Medical Colleges, Indian Institute of Science, NIMHANS and so on. Only those who do not get admissions in these institutions look to private ones; may be a couple of exceptions like, Indian Business School or Bits Pilani. But when it comes to the primary education, even though the teachers are better paid in govt schools, only those who cannot afford to pay the tuition fee in a nearby private school would admit their wards in a govt/municipal school where education is free. When we are trying to make basic changes in the methods of teaching, unless those reforms take place at the bottom of the pyramid, in the govt managed schools, the quality education would continue to be accessible only to the elite class.
Mr. Murthy has emphasised the need for our educational system to produce people who add to the body of knowledge and technology for common good. But that is not the only way to fulfil his general and very true statement that: "The world will recognize our institutions and salute them if these institutions help transform the lives of every Indian...." In many areas like health care, basic education and justice, there is an equal need for people who are willing to apply and practice already available knowledge and skills in ways that actually meet the dire needs of our nation at some personal cost. The institutions of higher and professional education need to take social accountability also seriously.
I am an Inter I year student and agree totally with Mr Murthy. I agree that it is necessary to learn concepts rather than just mug up problems without the least bit of understanding. However, I feel that the competition for IITs especially is due to the fact that they are some of the best facilitated colleges. So, there is a lot of pressure on students to get into them. I attend IIT coaching classes myself, and notice that many students there are not wholly sure of whether they really want to go to the IITs or not. And when the preparation gets tough for them, they have no choice but to mug up everything. The better alternative would be to get all other colleges up to a certain high standard, if not on par with the IITs. It is alright for adults to say that the standards and attitude of research universities should be upped, but it is the student preparing for the exam that really knows what the struggle is.
Dear Mr.Murthy,
Your concerns about class room education is highly appreciated. In addition, we may also explore centuries old accomplishments of Hindu civilization. Not as a fanatic but more as a analytical thinker. For example how much we can learn and develop Katapayadi sankhya system.
Something to think about.
Dear Mr. Murthy,
Though it makes for easy evaluation and filtration, introduction of
competition at every level of `time bound learning', has exposed the
students to pressures from peers and many other social entities to
excel. Who otherwise would have performed better in a relaxed setup.
I cannot agree more! I got trained in the field of chemistry and even in Masters degree I had no idea what I was learning in theory classes and their practical implications. The learning is simply not understanding the basic concepts but to memorize and write exams. As far as building reputed institutions is concerned, I strongly believe we have established infrastructure long ago (for a few). I got my PhD from one of the reputed CSIR institutions. I must say that except 5-10% of the faculty, most of the faculties have occupied important positions and do basically nothing in their career. Since these are government institutions, no proper evaluations and no one will question them. Unless these positions are only retained on performance basis and strict regulations are brought into practice, things cannot improve no matter how many institutions we create. This is the fate of most of our so called popular institutions. Young and enthusiastic people should be given opportunities.