Infosys Founder-Chairman N.R. Narayana Murthy, on Monday, said that India should reach the top 10 position in Human Development Index (HDI) from its current 130 position by harnessing education.
“I want every child to receive the best help from teachers to rise to his/her best potential, commensurate with his/her capacity without being hindered by financial constraints. I don’t want access to high quality and high leverage education to be restricted to the elite as it is today... but to be made available to the poorest of the poor also,” he said, in his address at the 96 annual convocation of University of Mysore at the Crawford Hall here.
Mr. Murthy was earlier conferred an honorary doctorate along with eminent scientist and member of Niti Aayog, V.K. Saraswat. Nirmalananda Swamiji, President, Sri Adichunchangiri Education Trust, was conferred honorary doctorate in absentia.
Governor and Chancellor Vajubhai Vala conferred the degrees in the presence of Minister for Law and Higher Education T.B. Jayachandra.
In his speech, Mr. Murthy said the grand challenges India was facing can be addressed if excellence, merit and achievement were revered. Elaborating his vision for primary and secondary education, which is where the foundation was laid, he advised schools and universities to become inspirational for children. “I want our children to focus on problem solving to improve the context rather than the current focus on learning by rote.”
Stating that market will be the ultimate decider of the efficacy of every school, he said the only function of the government is to regulate the quality of education by setting standards. The standards committee should consist of well-proven teachers, academicians, and parents who have global outlook, he advised.
Favouring “pay by performance” system in every school, he said the students should vote on the competence of teachers based on certain attributes decided across the country by a regulatory body.
Mr. Murthy also suggested setting up a governing body, wherein majority of the members will be parents. The governing body could use the student survey while deciding on the promotions and salaries of teachers and other staff, he suggested.
Vice-Chancellor K.S. Rangappa, Registrar C. Basavaraju and Registrar (Evaluation) Rajanna were present.
A total of 28,960 candidates were conferred degrees. Among them, 17,223 (60 per cent) were women. Women also bagged 141 medals and prizes among 205 candidates.
