Too many teachers not needed: Sam Pitroda
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Sam Pitroda, Advisor to the Prime Minister of India on Public Information Infrastructure & Innovations, spoke at the Invest Bhubaneswar symposium recently.
He is also widely considered to have been responsible for India’s communications revolution. As Advisor, he will be looking into creating information infrastructure for enhancing delivery of services to the citizens in various areas and will also be working on creating a roadmap for a ‘Decade of Innovation’ in India. As technology Advisor to the Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi in the 1984s, Mr. Pitroda not only heralded the telecom revolution in India, but also made a strong case for using technology for the benefit and betterment of society through several missions on telecommunications, literacy, dairy, water, immunization, oilseeds etc.. He has continued to redefine the role technology can play in a society like India by linking it to better delivery of services for the underprivileged in the country.
At the conference, National Innovation Council chairman, Sam Pitroda said, "At a time when short-age of teachers is perceived to be a big impediment to education in the country, the need of too many teachers is becoming irrelevant. We don't need lots of teachers. The teachers don't need to create or impart content to students anymore. The role of teachers has changed to that of mentors." But whether government and teachers association can accept the fact; that is a big question, he said.
"The new learning models today are very different. Students are multi-tasking. They are listening to music, talking to a friend over phone and doing homework at the same time. Still, they are surprisingly doing good," he said.
Pitroda said that, "The government wants to institutionalize innovation as a platform. The new products and services cannot only come from laboratories and by researchers; innovation can come from anyone. There has to be innovation in social, health, education and rural development sectors." he said.
Secondly, the government strongly believes that all the researches are focused on solving the problems of the rich, who don't have any problems. The innovations must be to address the problems of the poor, who are at the bottom of the pyramid, Pitroda said.
As technology Advisor to the Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi in the 1984s, Mr. Pitroda not only heralded the telecom revolution in India, but also made a strong case for using technology for the benefit and betterment of society through several missions on telecommunications, literacy, dairy, water, immunization, oilseeds etc.. He has continued to redefine the role technology can play in a society like India by linking it to better delivery of services for the underprivileged in the country.
The man, credited for the telecommunication revolution in the country also addressed the next phase of IT where the creation of a new platform for broadband would empower all universities, research institutions, government and private organizations to be interconnected. His vision is that all physical space in the country would be tagged with IP addresses and all data digitalized.
Pitroda said, "Bhubaneswar will emerge as the knowledge capital of east. There are so many good institutes in and around Bhubaneswar. If these all are packaged together well, Bhubaneswar will be East India's knowledge capital."