WHY INDIA DOES NOT HAVE MANY MORE DHIRUBHAI's?
By Ruma Dubey
Albeit late but nevertheless, it was gratifying to see that Dhirubhai Ambani, the one industrialist who has inspired scores of Indians to achieve, reach for the sky, was finally posthumously given the Padma Vibhushan. And like always, we cannot help but wonder why we no longer see more prolific leaders like Dhirubhai? Should we shrug it off as something which happens only once in 100 years?
At a time when we are trying to give the best educational tools to our children, there does come a thought, a stray thought – how come India has success stories like Dhirubhai Ambani, Subhash Chandra Goel, Anil Agarwal of Sterlite who is just a matriculate? Not just in India, the richest man in the world, Bill Gates is also a school dropout. When we spend a large chunk of our earnings on education, how come these entrepreneurs have turned the entire concept of education on its head and emerged at the top? Does it mean that geniuses are born and not nurtured?
We read these various rags-to-riches success stories, where education was non existent but what was palpitating furiously was a very strong entrepreneurial spirit. They innovated or emerged winners because they were pushed to the very corner; it was a battle for survival for most. So why is it that we do not have such innovators or entrepreneurs in today’s time?
One cannot help but think of the lyrics of the music group Pink Floyd, “ We don’t need no education, we don’t need no thought control … another brick in the wall”
It is not as though India’s dropout list has come down. As per a World Bank study, at least 48 of every 100 students in India pursuing secondary education never go beyond that level, which is worse than even Vietnam and Bangladesh. 30% students fail before the final examination and 11% drop out during the period (class 9-12). These are figures of mainly rural India, where education still remains dismal. The Govt made a good move by bringing into force the Right to Education Act on 1st April 2010. With this Act coming into force, it is now legally enforceable for every child to demand free and elementary education between the ages of six and 14 years.
Most are not able to attend school due to social pressures, especially girls. Then there is poverty where every working hand is needed to get some money to diffuse pangs of hunger. And hunger remains the biggest deterrent and schools which provide meals are what work. Children come to eat and by the way, get to study. This gets them literate but does not cull dropout levels.
The common thread running between likes of Agarwal, Ambani and dropouts is rural India. Yes, India’s biggest entrepreneurs have come from rural India and not big cities and yes, even today, rural India has the highest dropouts. Yet, why is it that we are not able to create another Ambani or another Agarwal?
There are many free thinkers who feel that education in India, which is more about mugging up rather than conceptual clarity, kills all innovation. Infact many complain that as students, one is not allowed to be creative. Today, children are not allowed to solve a simple Math problem using their creativity; they have to necessarily follow the method given by the teacher. So when creativity is killed at such an early stage and at such simple levels, little wonder schools do not produce any innovators today! The famed movie, 3 Idiots talked about the same. And yes, there is immense talent in India. National Innovation Foundation has stated that there are over 100,000 outstanding innovations that have come from school dropouts and poor people from rural India. And NIF has managed to get some products commercially manufactured and some exported. But millions of ideas and innovators continue waiting for assistance in terms of funds, technical and design support.
A major shakeup in terms of quality of education is desperately needed in India. Our country has probably got the highest number of MBAs, yet, they cannot even think half as innovatively. So are we churning out just degrees with no substance?
It is true that a genius is born once in a lifetime and such a genius cannot be shackled by education. And at the same time, it is also equally true that education is a must. Or else Dhirubhai and Bill Gates would not have educated their own children. But India surely needs another Dhirubhai!