“The 2015 draft NEP, however, will be far from the timely policy document that will provide the vision and way forward for a floundering Indian educational system. This document will be the product of a deeply flawed, secretive and ineffective approach to the formulation of education policy.”
John Kurrien, Director Emeritus, Centre for Learning Resources, Pune, on the Union HRD ministry’s public consultations process (Times of India, December 1)
“The reason I think the wealthy Indians don’t give as much as Americans — in fact, Americans are actually leaders in this — one is their families are much larger in terms of wealth sharing. Two, a majority of Indians who are wealthy believe that they must leave their entire money as inheritance to their children.”
Azim Premji, chairman of Wipro Ltd, on why Indians are philanthropy averse at an IIM-Bangalore Alumni Meet (December 14)
“There is a lot to learn from Japan. But for India, one compelling lesson that Japan offers is its fierce focus on education. This is the backstory to Japan’s emergence as a technological powerhouse.”
Patralekha Chatterjee, journalist, on the recent visit of Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe to India (Deccan Chronicle, December 17)
“I think it (Indian education system) should allow a system of creativity, project-based, experiential learning. We should teach students to take risks and not penalise them.”
Sundar Pichai, Google CEO, on the Indian education system’s obsessive focus on accumulation of academic knowledge, in an interaction with Sri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi students (December 18)
“There is extensive research to prove that transferring children to the adult justice system does not reduce crime, and in fact increases recidivism as it exposes these children to hardened criminals.”
Barkha Deva, public affairs commentator, criticising recent amendments to the Juvenile Justice Bill, 2015 (The Hindu, December 21)