A country, which has its own constitution, is called a Republic.
The constitution is the backbone of our country, as any law or policy beyond the ambit of constitution is ultra vires.
This Republic Day, as a citizen of this country, there are a few things that bother me. Some of them are due to the wrong policies of the country and some due to our own wrong choices.
Education and unemployment have a direct relationship. At present, we are facing a major economic crisis. Whether this crisis is temporary or not, only time will tell. We are at present in an era of Artificial Intelligence (AI), which is one of the most important reasons for unemployment in our Country. How?
For Example, ten years ago, when I was working as an intern with a law firm, during my second year in law college, our office had few interns. Our duty was to follow up with the case status, and most importantly, to search reference case laws and do research by going to the library sometimes. That was an era when legal softwares were just introduced in the market and were very expensive.
A couple of years down the line, the website ‘Indian Kanoon’ changed the entire scenario. Now, the latest judgments were available right at your fingertips for FREE, within a few hours. Therefore, the requirement of interns was reduced because software took care of the duties previously carried out by student interns. It was easier and much cheaper for me to set up my own practice—because my laptop was an alternative to books, student interns, case journals, etc.
Today, our competition is not with other human beings but with Artificial Intelligence. Today, in a fraction of a second, Google can give you all the answers under the sky. So, how do we tackle the present situation? Ban Artificial Intelligence?
No, here is another way to do it:
- The government first needs to change outdated syllabus in our education system. The computer system taught to our children in schools is literally decades old and is not of much help to the students.
- Do not encourage ROTE System anywhere in our schools and professional courses. Sadly, even today, our undergraduate courses, including the professional ones, only rely on the Rote system. The more you can mug up, the better you do in your exams.
- Change the exam system to more practice-based knowledge. Do not judge the children on how well they mug up a concept, but on how well they can apply the concept they have learnt.
- This will bring an end to the corruption in the education system. It will bring back the time when merit was acknowledged, and there was no PURCHASING OF DEGREES.
- Its absolutely fine if we do not produce hundreds of engineers, who barely know their basics, and instead produce ten good engineers, who can bring a change in our society.
- Stop nepotism in every field. Encourage talent. Appreciate talent. Not everyone needs to be a doctor, engineer or IAS to succeed in life; other professions are also equally good if the person is interested.
- Teach and give more importance to empathy and mental health in our schools and colleges, so that the number of suicides is reduced, and children get equal opportunity to showcase their skill set. Good mental health will also lead to a reduction in cases of harassment.
These are a few points that I feel our present government needs to take care of. But it is not just the sole responsibility of the government; it is also the duty of the citizens to take care of the education and upgrade themselves with time.
The government can only make policies, but if you do not have the inherent desire to learn and excel, even the best of education systems will not help you grow.
The AI revolution may have taken away a lot of jobs, but trust me, it is one of the best time to be an entrepreneur or a solo-preneur—because you have cheap technology at your disposal, and the cost of manpower is drastically reduced.
On this note, dear fellow Indians, wish you all a very Happy Republic Day!