EDUCATION SPECIAL..Rote learning versus inventive applications

Rote learning versus inventive applications

‘Made in India’ is still to acquire an inspirational platform globally. Post economic reforms 22 years ago, foreign companies came in with global expertise and knowhow. They suddenly roused the economy with inflow of investment. They outsourced ITES supplied by low-cost human trade and India gained the reputation of having a knowledge industry. Yet the country does not have a value-driven brand that’s recognised globally.

China, earlier known for cheap quality, today puts its ‘Made in China’ manufacturing signature on the world’s most coveted, inspirational brand like Apple. This means ‘Made in China’ has become global standard for even sophisticated products today. Korea too, insignificantly tucked away in northern Asia, has done a phenomenal job of mesmerising the world with its brands, making Samsung, LG, Hyundai among others, household names in every country. None of all these advancements has happened with any fundamental innovation. They are all examples of outstanding application work. They have been executed with hard work, elegance, high quality and innovative customer interface.

India’s basic education and professional learning system is driven by memorisation or learning by rote which hampers the thirst for inventive application. Mechanical mugging is done through ‘mug books’ or a series of question-and-answer publications that show the way to score high on written exams. Learning by heart has been a malaise in China too where 6 million students take exams every year. Yet they have been able to emerge from it to create value differentiation in the market. Discipline, process and creativity have played their roles proving that China has gone beyond the learning-by-rote pattern into expressive delivery excellence.

The learning-by-rote culture has not de-scaled in India. As per a McKinsey study, a very high percentage of educated professionals are not qualified for high-end jobs. They comprise 75 per cent of engineering graduates, 85 per cent of finance and accounting professionals and 90 per cent of professionals with other degrees. This means that only a few educational institutes equip students for professional competence. Only 3 per cent Indian academics publish research papers in science as opposed to 60 per cent US academics.

Before liberalisation, the Indian market was demand-less, that is, the saving mentality was on. Post 1991, sudden economic power created the shift to a demand-led market with tremendous choice offered by foreign players. So clearly, an opportunity was there for value addition but Indian Industry did not take it up. Again the root of this can be traced to rote learning as that pollutes the foundation of learning and does not allow people to be inventive in any situation. A value-led market can only be created by a learning system that calls for analysis and encourages following a process for problem solving by individual innovative expression. Most Indian enterprises are more focused on and feel comfortable spending money on tangible assets rather than taking risks in greenfield areas. But the market opportunity here has brought in global companies in droves. They’ve set benchmarks, even changed our purchase-and-usage pattern.

Even the luxury retailing market, quite unknown earlier, is growing by 30 per cent today. The luxury sector was Rs 310 billion in 2010 and is pegged to be Rs 807 billion by 2015. Smaller cities are also becoming hubs for luxury brands which are adapting to Indian conditions. For festive gifting, luxury brands are combining local and cultural elements into their own creations. French luxury brand Hermes, best known for its Rs 19,182 plain white T-shirts and Rs 5,48,550 handbags, entered Indian with a line of fancy saris. Hermes expects to launch a perfume specific to India too.

In practical business, people in India very clearly become highly inventive where rote learning does not work. Driving in crowded Indian streets and off-roads with one leg continuously on the brake and a hand on horn against all international conventions is an example. When I ask people why they drive in the middle of the road, the answer is that both sides have to be kept as walking paths. There’s the famous inventive use of the washing machine in busy roadside dhabas of Punjab. Instead of putting clothes in it, they efficiently churn buttermilk or yoghurt in bulk for making delicious, frothy lassi in a jiffy. So clearly there’s no dearth of intelligence, but the education system where rote learning reigns supreme makes it very difficult for qualified executives to drive business through inventive application.

When a country is highly driven by rote learning, breaking the education mold is the only avenue for inventive application. Already the education market is growing at 14 per cent and here too foreign institutions are tying up with Indian colleges to offer different education programmes. Focus on “employability education” is being attempted in a few schools, colleges and universities across India. Industry needs to strengthen executive education so that they can create a value-led market.

Shombit Sengupta SIE120708.