Education holds a paramount position in our rapidly evolving world, as reflected in the global focus on Goal 4 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the national educational aspirations outlined in the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
Any realistic assessment of the progress till date towards reaching the goals by 2030 shows clearly that we will require a new and different approach. A similar story happened in regard to the US Census operations in 1880. The U.S. Constitution requires that a population count be conducted at the beginning of every decade. The first census, in 1790, also collected data on age and sex. In subsequent decades, many other personal attributes were included: occupational status, marital status, educational status, place of birth and so on.
Over the years, each census required greater effort than the last, not merely to collect the data but also to compile it into usable form. By the time of the 1880 census, it led to an unacceptable delay in this processing. A competition was then announced to improve this processing, which was won by Herman Hollerith, and the count proceeded so rapidly that the numbers needed for congressional apportionment were certified before the end of November 1890. This venture of Hollerith evolved to the well-known IBM, a leader in the computing industry.
The landscape of education is being reshaped by cutting-edge technologies, with ChatGPT from OpenAI standing out as a prime example. Launched a few years ago, ChatGPT has undergone significant advancements in language processing and conversational abilities, setting new benchmarks in artificial intelligence.
The evolution of ChatGPT underscores the transformative impact of technology in education, echoing the foresight of the 2015 Technology Vision – 2035 report by TIFAC, available at :
which envisioned a future where traditional educational institutions would become obsolete by 2035, and succeeded by newer forms of educational Institutions with different features.
India has now embraced the two emerging technologies of Artificial Intelligence and Quantum in a big way. There is an AI mission with an initial commitment of 10,000 crores ( https://lnkd.in/g4shZtkW ) and a National Quantum mission with an initial commitment of Rs 6,000 crores ( https://lnkd.in/gz3RQswH ). This requires a mission to ‘ Make Indian Educators Great Again’ and enhance the Indian participation on Quantum Readiness and AI fluency. The two strands of this mission are to develop “ AI fluent SmartEducators” and “ AI powered self-directed learners”.
These challenges can be overcome resulting in many opportunities that not only provide the sense of achievement that innovation gives but also propel India into the league of economically and technically advanced nations. As Prof RA Mashelkar, a former DG of CSIR had said in his book, we must not leap frog but actually pole vault to our new future.
A few days ago, on 7th June, 2024, the U.N. proclaimed 2025 as the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ). This year-long, worldwide initiative will celebrate the contributions of quantum science to technological progress over the past century, raise global awareness of its importance to sustainable development in the 21st century, and ensure that all nations have access to quantum education and opportunities.
The big opportunity for India is to become ‘educators to the world’ in these new emerging domains. The SWAYAM has already demonstrated India’s ability to deliver large scale education. The next challenge is to deliver mass education with personalisation, as demonstrated by Khanmigo of Khan academy. We also need new pedagogies which have been well documented in Mike Sharples recent book on Practical pedagogy :40 new ways to teach and learn.
Broadcast technologies such as MOOCs do not personalise learning. Personalized learning has long been a “holy grail” in education. Ideally, we would love to be able to work with each student to achieve a more personalized level of learning that taps into individual interests, skills and desires. Even before PCs became popular, I had while teaching Physics at IIT Kanpur explored personalised learning for Mastery as per the Keller plan. The experiment was published as a paper: M.M. Pant, “Experiment with self–paced instruction in undergraduate Physics”, J. of Phys. Education, 3, 1 (1975).
And IIITB recently created a GPS for e-learning : gooru navigator : https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/researchers-develop-a-gps-for-personalised-elearning/article68374461.ece
The core concepts of Gooru Navigator, a sort of GPS for learning, have been developed by the International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore (IIITB) in collaboration with Gooru Labs. It assesses the learner’s knowledge, interests, and mindsets and recommends personalised learning activities. Its makers say it will guide the users to their learning destinations, identify personal learning gaps, and provide resources to bridge those gaps.
With a suitable combination and mix of AI driven pedagogy and human AI fluent SmartEducators, India is well poised to build on its success of IITs ( Bill Gates on IITs : https://youtu.be/7S9K5YtZWp4?si=AJsG5gInMIxNdPY9 ) to now provide the right education that the entire world needs .
I’ve been predicting that by 2030 the largest company on the internet is going to be an education-based company that we haven’t heard of yet,” says Thomas Frey, of the Da Vinci Institute think tank.
We should do whatever it takes so that this company comes out of India.
