CEO speaks: Nurturing values: Unlocking G20 goals through education reforms

As we in India continue to celebrate our presidency of the G20, it provides us with a crucial opportunity to address some fundamental and pressing challenges that confront our country and the world in the sphere of education. Long overdue reforms in our education systems are adversely affecting the kind of citizens and leaders we produce for tomorrow, as well as the teachers we choose to educate the next generations. As the world’s most populous nation of 1.42 billion, India’s actions ripple across the globe, impacting all G20 goals!

The G20 was born out of the ashes of the 1999 Asian financial crisis and the 2007 global financial crisis. These calamities exposed the devastating consequences of corruption and greed within society. Despite the intellectual prowess of those responsible, their lack of professional integrity and basic morals led to widespread suffering all across the world. The G20 emerged as a response to tackle these issues head-on and chart a new course for global economic stability.

While knowledge and intellectual ability are vital, they alone cannot guarantee a better world. The true measure of progress lies in the intent behind our actions. The G20 goals can only be realised if we prioritise the development of character and value systems among students.

Teachers bear the fundamental responsibility of nurturing students’ character and value systems. After parents, they are the most powerful force that shapes young minds. The journey towards building a just and equitable world begins in the classrooms where educators need to instill a strong sense of right and wrong from an early age.

Numerous countries have already recognised the significance of value education in early childhood and primary education systems. They emphasise moral development starting from their kindergarten and primary education systems, nurturing students’ character alongside their intellectual growth. Countries like Singapore, Norway, Sweden and Finland recognise the importance of holistic value education over the habit formation years. And there is a direct correlation to how their societies have evolved — these countries are consistently ranked by Transparency International as the least corrupt year after year! As per their Corruption Perception Index (CPI)-2022, Denmark is ranked 1st, Finland 2nd, Norway 4th and Singapore 5th. They are also some of the most prosperous and happy societies. Perhaps it is time that we in India, and other developing nations, learn from their experiences and start replicating the same in earnest!

Another issue that needs urgent attention is attracting the right kind of talent to the teaching profession. Regrettably, many developing countries, including India, face challenges in recruiting and retaining highly skilled educators. In contrast, countries like Germany, Norway, Japan and Denmark hold teachers in high regard duly recognising their crucial role in society. These nations prioritise education and offer competitive compensation to teachers, ensuring that the best talents are drawn to the profession. Such countries, by valuing their teachers and rewarding them appropriately, have fostered an environment conducive to excellence, resulting in remarkable socio-economic achievements and paving the way to prosperity with integrity!

We in India need to deeply introspect as to why crucial reforms in our education systems have long been a topic for protracted debate, but have never been actually implemented. What is holding us back from becoming a nation that prides its value-based education system, and celebrates its teachers? As per my extensive experience — both as an educator as well as a corporate leader — the primary ills that affect our education system can be remedied by some sweeping reformative steps:

· Implementation of a uniform ethics and value-based school curriculum from KG to standard XII across the country: This is the most fundamental requirement to ensure that children across the length and breadth of the country receive the same quality of education regardless of the geographical boundaries of the state. Of equal importance is the integration of a strong value and ethics focus into this curriculum. It ensures consistency, reduces disparities, and fosters unity, leading to a stronger and more inclusive values and ethics based education system that empowers future generations who shall have the right intent.

· Extensive reform in the school teacher selection process: Currently, each state in India has its own school teacher selection process with its myriad set of issues. We urgently need to replace such fragmented and faulty systems with a common selection test across the country. Why can’t we have an Indian School Education Service analogous to the Indian Administrative Service, and select the most promising individuals for this transformative profession through a transparent and competitive selection process? Why can’t we choose the brightest candidates from each state who qualify and train them intensively at a specialised facility as we have for IAS officers, and task them with training the remaining candidates in each state? Why can’t we give our teachers who nurture our children’s futures the same kind of prestige or privilege we give to our administrators or any other highly respected profession?

· Inclusion of an ethics & value metric: Analogous to IQ and EQ, can we not think of having an Ethics & Values Quotient (EVQ) that can be measured for our students, say from standard V onwards? This score can be given equal weightage to academic performance and can be considered a prime metric for college/university admissions and job selections. I am sure this is a contentious suggestion but can do wonders for our socio-economic progress in the long run!

India has recently been the proud host of the G20 Education Ministers’ Meeting (EMM) in Pune, Maharashtra on June 22. 150 delegates including 14 ministers from G20 members and guest countries were in attendance. India has also hosted 4 G20 Education Working Group (EdWG) meetings—in Chennai (February 2023), Amritsar (March 2023), Bhubaneshwar (April 2023) and Pune (June 2023). The overwhelming consensus in all these discussions was the need for G20 members to work for a “resilient, equitable, inclusive, and sustainable future through education” and to recognise “the central role of all teachers and education staff all over the world”. We need to do much more than we are doing currently to translate such grand thoughts into tangible action.

The motto for India’s G20 presidency is “One Land, One Family, One Future”. The world is indeed borderless now in so many more ways than we can ever imagine. We must urgently address the kind of “knowledge” that we pass on to the new generations. To create a sustainable and prosperous future, we must prioritise character education and value and respect teachers as indispensable pillars of society. By attracting the best talents to the teaching profession and empowering educators, we pave the way for a generation of future leaders with the right intent and integrity to achieve the G20 goals and build a better world for all. Let us act decisively now to ensure a brighter and more equitable future!

Dr Sanku Bose, Group CEO

(Techno India Group)