On Path to Mediocrity?

Despite being a young and ambitious nation, India's overreliance on outdated education, passive parenting, and low innovation threatens its future in a tech-driven world; writes Sachin Shridhar

- Sachin Shridhar

Have you seen the security guard of your building busy watching reels on his phone? His job is to remain alert to what is going on around him, and yet, if he is unmindful of anything, it is precisely what is going on around him. Have you seen young teenagers on mobile phones with a concentration they scarcely show elsewhere in any task whatsoever? Why talk of teenagers—you must have surely come across mothers nonchalantly handing over a mobile phone to a young child to keep him from crying, and the young child is no less. Like a trained monkey, he starts pushing buttons which he knows will flash pictures that distract and calm him down. You must be witnessing these and many similar scenes around you on a daily basis. But have you seen a young child immersed in a book or focused with unbroken concentration? Or have you seen a child play with puzzle toys that help develop visualisation, critical thinking, and motor skills to use his hands dexterously? Most likely, the chances are that you have not—or only in a few instances—compared to the earlier scenarios, which are so ubiquitous.

In India, we are an indulgent lot when it comes to parenting. Our slogan is: "Oh, he is just a child. He will do it when the time comes." No one defines when that time is going to come, and the child moves from small toys to bigger ones and from flashing lights to browsing the internet in a drugged stupor. In the process, isn't education and intellect in the country taking a hit? Aren't we, as a large nation of a billion-plus, getting left behind? The indications are strong.