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“We do not need to teach creativity, but rather inspire its daily practice”- Diane Darrow
The world is constantly changing and to keep up with its demands, it has become important to modify education so that the students can cater to the dynamic changes of the world. With the inception of NEP 2020, the focus has been laid to introduce innovation in the world of education. Encouraging discussion on this idea, the Gitarattan Institute of Advanced Studies and Training, Delhi organized a National Conference. The conference was on the topic “Revolutionizing Teacher Education with Entrepreneurial Inputs” on 7th April, 2022on Google Meet.
The session began with a salutation by Ms. Shruti Singh, Assistant Professor, Gitarattan Institute of Advanced Studies and Training, as she warmly welcomed the resource persons for the day, Prof. Dhananjay Joshi, Vice-Chancellor, Delhi Teachers University, Dr. S K Bhatia, Former Associate Professor, CIE, University of Delhi, Prof. Vandana Saxena, CIE, University of Delhi, Prof. Sonia Jindal, Principal, Gitarattan Institute of Advanced Studies and Training, other faculty members and guests along with the rest of the participants. The abridgment of the session was provided by Ms. Shikha Sharma, Assistant Professor, Gitarattan Institute of Advanced Studies and Training.
The discussion on the topic for the day was prefaced in the Cynosure by Dr. S K Bhatia, Former Associate Professor, CIE, University of Delhi. During this, he emphasized how entrepreneurial subjects have already been introduced in curriculums of certain universities and it was high time it became an important part of the curriculum within the mainstream Indian Education. He illustrated this idea with international and nationally renowned successful entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, Mukesh Ambani, G.D. Birla, etc. Appreciating the efforts of entrepreneurs like G.D. Birla for bringing innovation in education through the establishment of institutes like the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Dr. Bhatia introduced the idea of an “edu-preneur”. He explained that an educational entrepreneur is the need of the current Indian education system. He tried to draw a comparison between business entrepreneurship and educational entrepreneurship. He started off by listing the similarities between them both as they require creative ideas, management of resources, and risk-taking but the difference arises in profitability as while business focuses on economic profit, education focuses on the overall development of the students.
Before beginning with Technical Session 1, the session was preluded by Prof. Sonia Jindal, Principal, Gitarattan Institute of Advanced Studies and Training. She welcomed all the participants on behalf of the institution and congratulated Prof. Dhananjay Joshi, the resource person for Technical Session 1 for his recent achievements. She highlighted the importance of the topic of the session in India’s current education scenario.
Technical Session 1 commenced with Prof. Dhananjay Joshi, Vice-Chancellor, Delhi Teachers University reiterating the topic for the day. He began by explaining the concept of revolution that is mentioned in the title of the session by reminding everyone of the French Revolution and Rousseau’s idea of equality, fraternity, and liberty that laid the foundation for the revolution. Drawing from this, he emphasized that with the introduction of NEP 2020, it has become important for teachers to revolutionize education. He compared an educator to a creator while the rest of the professions become the creatures. He elaborated how the teacher’s or the educator’s profession should take precedence over any other due to its ability to set the tone for the future advancement of the situation. Despite this, it is given the least importance. He quoted one of the statements from the Kothari Commission, “Destiny of the nation lies in its classroom.” He commented on how despite being aware of the immense responsibility within a teacher’s hands, till now no step had been taken to improve the teacher’s education which is the only way of improving the country’s future. He emphasized the shift of focus in education from students becoming job seekers to job providers. This is made possible only through encouraging an entrepreneurial mindset within the students which had been proposed much earlier by Mahatma Gandhi himself. He concluded by reinstating the need for the system to change so that education as its sub-system can change which is possible when the stakeholders encourage innovation and initiation.
Ms. Garima, Assistant Professor, Gitarattan Institute of Advanced Studies and Training, next welcomed the resource person for Technical Session 2, Prof. Vandana Saxena, Professor, CIE, University of Education. Taking forward from Prof. Dhananjay’s ideas, Prof. Saxena asserted the need to redefine the goals of education. She looked back at India’s educational history dating back to its colonial roots. British India’s educational goals were set by minds like Macaulay who were focused on creating students who were “Indian in blood, British in thought”. This was set keeping in mind the fulfillment of their personal agenda of creating trustworthy personnel to overlook their territory. This idea of education has been carried on till now as the focus was on preparing the students for job sectors. Prof. Saxena emphasized the need to shift these goals which have already been initiated in NEP 2020. She elaborated that students should not be encouraged to expect something from the nation but rather what they can contribute to the nation’s advancements. This can be achieved by developing entrepreneurial education within the context of a student’s socio-cultural background. This will persuade society to reinstate the importance that was earlier given to local artisanal skills in India. She ended her session by highlighting the need to return to the grassroots of skill development in current education.
The Technical Sessions were followed by an Open Discussion, where participants were invited to put forward their queries and ideas.Dr.S.K. Bhatia contributed to this by establishing a connection between his prior statements and Prof. Saxena’s statements. Ms. Shikha Sharma, Assistant Professor, Gitarattan Institute of Advanced Studies and Training asked Prof. Saxena to suggest one pivotal point for teacher educators to prepare for entrepreneurship. Prof. Saxena answered it with the need to rethink the goals of education. The session came to its conclusion with an expression of gratitude by Ms. Shalu, Assistant Professor, Gitarattan Institute of Advanced Studies and Training, as she, on the behalf of Gitarattan family, thanked the resource persons for their valuable input and the participants for their engagement in the session.
Watch the conference at : https://youtu.be/USq5Q6Evu7w
