Learner’s Park: Do not fear failure or hesitate to change course when needed, says Sandeep Sancheti of Marwadi University

Sandeep Sancheti, vice chancellor at Marwadi University shares his views on opportunities and challenges of the education system in India with FE Education Online.

What is the best thing about today’s education system?

The educational system of today is evolving and focusing more on the student. The transition from the Gurukula System, which may be known as Education 1.0, to Education 4.0, which is student-centred and on-demand education, has been slow, but the introduction of technology and situations like Covid have worked as catalysts in the recent rapid shifts.

The walls that once surrounded education are gradually being broken down. Regional, state, and even national boundaries are becoming hazy. This implies that, depending on a student’s interests and goals, they can achieve degree(s) by earning credits from any place or institution. Similar to this, the artificial line separating formal and non-formal (vocational and skill etc.) education is also blurring and growing less distinct with the advent of a new framework of NEP-2020.

What is the one thing you would like to change in the system?

Several old age customs are currently causing problems in higher education. As a result, many changes and improvements would be required to bring it to a desired level. While the government and policymakers are pushing for access, equity, transparency, accountability, diversity, and quality, they are encountering a number of barriers due to a lack of understanding or adoption of these in the academic sector. Unfortunately, a culture of ‘to do the minimum and get the maximum’ has taken hold. This has led to only quantitative expansion of higher education generally with poor outcomes. Adopting the notion of ‘ ‘to do maximum and reach best” should be our real mantra. In addition to the six important parameters mentioned above, one should equally strive for better speed and efficiency as well in the education sector.

What is the role digital has played in the evolution of the education system?

Digital is very significant and now essential, but it cannot be termed as a driver for“evolution” of the education system because it has simply contributed to its “transformation”. By definition, digital has the advantage of a single format (style), which means that everything, including text, images, music, and video, can be turned into a single or unitary type of representation. It makes it easy to process, store, distribute, and incorporate generational changes in any informational or educational system. Undoubtedly, it has expanded the base of education and its reach. It is also removing many conventional barriers which were impeding its growth. In the long run, it will make education Omnipresent for all types of knowledge seekers and make it cost-effective too.

While there are many rapid changes occurring, we can hardly claim that any particular digital technology is being developed solely for the purpose of education. Currently, most technologies used are an afterthought or borrowed from developments mainly driven by defence and health care needs. We genuinely hope this scenario will change soon since education is taking the driving seat with masses recognizing its importance.

What has been the disadvantage of digital in education?

Digital Domain, just like a coin, has two sides. We cannot just keep applauding one and neglect another. It faces numerous challenges, and some of these are:

Rapid Growth and Expansion

Monotony and Repetitiveness

Infrastructure for delivering digital education

Difficulty in Training and Adaptability by teachers

Lack of seriousness among students

Initial Cost

As one may know, such disadvantages are always present in the technological arena at first, but with time and scalability, many things change. Personally, I do not see these as significant bottlenecks because technology is becoming more adaptive in every sense and can assist people of varying abilities and capabilities to learn more actively. The same is true for Gen Z, as it is widely acknowledged that they are more technologically savvy and can adapt to digital environments rather easily.

What is the career advice you would like to give to students?

When it comes to career advice, one-size-fits-all cannot be the approach, especially for young, impressionable students. Before giving any counselling, one should learn more about their aims, goals, aspirations, dreams as well as their potential weaknesses. With such a SWOC-like study, carried with the help of inputs from parents, friends, instructors, and counsellors, they must be assisted in developing their own career decision. We should generally limit ourselves to enrich them with a variety of information and some unique case studies. This recipe can be effective since a young and aspirational student will work hard to make their own decisions more fruitful rather than those imposed by parental or peer pressures.