"Some say our planet is too crowded. I say we are seven billion strong. But we will only be able to use that strength for the benefit of all if our societies are built on mutual respect and understanding," …Ban Ki-Moon UN Secretary-General. [News report, TNIE, 1.11.11]
And that is a big if….to be strong….
As rightly stated by Mr. Moon, collective strength requires mutual respect and understanding which is clearly missing under the various global imperatives. Since weaknesses abound, there is a distinct lack of “unity of purpose”. Weaknesses abound because of our strong domain dependence. Domains come in various forms….religion, nation, state, caste, creed, class, school, departments, areas, specializations, and so on…..just name a turf (and it is there). This detracts the individual entity from supporting the inclusive growth challenges because the individual prefers to be within the comfort zone of the domain-specific boundaries.
Another extract from the same report reads…
[Quote] UN Population Fund's (UNFPA) Executive Director Babatunde Osotimehin said actions taken now will decide whether the future of the seventh billion baby will be healthy, sustainable and prosperous or marked by inequalities, environmental decline and economic setbacks. "The world must seize the opportunity to invest in the health and education of its youth to reap the full benefits of future economic development or else face a continuation of the sorry state of disparities in which hundreds of millions of people in developing nations lack the most basic ingredients for a decent life," Osotimehin said. [Unquote]
According to Osotimehin, “planning and the right investments in people will empower them to make choices that are not only good for themselves, but also for a world of seven billion.”
Is Indian education sector investing accordingly? While transcending the borders is the need of the hour, we have regulatory bodies that continue to pursue policies of yesteryears that drive the entities into various impermeable disciplinary silos. While “design thinking” and “systems thinking” philosophies have been promoting concepts of the whole being actually larger than the part, we continue to participate in a fragmented (read parochial) education system that would much rather promote the part being larger than the whole. As a result, professional higher education (particularly in India) is not geared to think differently.
Design thinking is the next competitive advantage…yet in most B-School placements, it is made to appear that the industry is still interested in the “specialization tag”. This confuses the students who are then later supposed to work with a “unity of purpose”. [Earlier blog post: Story of Strong Areas and Weak Areas”]
Related link: Kakodkar Committee Report
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