We should not make our education system automatic as technology cannot replace teachers says Dr. Bhushan Patwardhan, Vice-Chairman, #UGC
Jaipur: Future education will be a blended education where institutes will be focused on delivering content with quality. Along with this, Higher education system in India should also focus on achieving sustainable goals which is important for our existence said Dr. Bhushan Patwardhan, Vice-Chairman, UGC who was expressing his view during the webinar organized by IIHMR University, Jaipur on ‘Heartful Leadership: Transforming Education and Supporting Sustainability’. The webinar organized in association with Heartfulness Institute, India (HFI) and UN Global Compact Network India (UNGCN) is addressed by veteran Indian and International thought leaders, academicians, scholars, and media professionals. The webinar was attended by 1000 plus participants.
Dr. Bhushan Patwardhan expressed his views on transforming education and supporting sustainability. He referred the ancient system of education and said that the visionaries had identified the ways of transforming education way back. Due to CVID-19, people are in adaptive mode of change. The education system in India has adopted and accepted the webinars so fast, which is remarkable but we should not make our education system automatic as technology cannot replace teachers.”
Dr. (Mrs.) Pankaj Mittal, Secretary General, AIU said, “COVID -19 enabled us to face the practical aspects of education system in India. She suggested that within coming two months, Higher education institutes in India should be ready with technical infrastructure, capacity building of teachers and faculty staff, evaluate cost effective online platforms where education can be imparted, assessment and evaluation system should be streamlined, placement and internship opportunities should be identified, national and international collaboration should be made for students and counseling and mental health session should be organized to culturally engage students.
Dr. Kamlesh D. Patel, Founder & Guide, Heartfulness Institute popularly known as Daaji, delivered keynote message on Heartfulness-focused leadership as it will bring phenomenal changes in the education system by emphasizing empathy, ethical intelligence, and emotional intelligence. He largely defined the purpose of education as flexible consciousness, and focused on the process of continuity in improvement and learning. He suggested harmonious way of living and conducted online meditation session for the speakers and participants.
Dr. Pankaj Gupta, President, IIHMR University, Jaipur said, “We need to restrategize our existing education system and look of more adaptive way of educating the future generation. The new online system has increased the screen time of students and faculties both, which might hamper their mental health in near future. He also suggested that the immediate way of adopting heartful leadership is to treat students as we treat our son or daughter. This will help students to get better guidance for their future.”
Dr. H. Chaturvedi, Director, Birla Institute (BIMTECH) and Alternate President, EPSI, India said, “ With more than 40 million students in higher education space in India, and more than 1.45 lakh teachers, India lacks personal touch in communicating with each other. In coming years, education institutes should be empathetic towards students who lack technology and are facing monetary issues in their families. We should focus on transforming education by cultivating heartful leadership and heartful teaching methods.”
Dr. D.P. Goyal, Director, IIM, Shillong said , “ Students ,faculties and parents are in tremendous pressure of adopting this new model of education so we can assume that it is still under testing phase. To transform the existing education system, we need to be agile, adaptive and innovate in our approach and mindset. Faculties need to sensitize and trusted. Education has no meaning, if it is not value based education system. Being humble, honest and humane in our approach, it is the biggest COVID-19 learning.”
Dr. Sandeep Sancheti, Vice Chancellor, SRM Institute, Chennai said, “We need to rediscover our lives, ourselves rather than running the blind rat race of growth and competition. Heartfulness is a simple approach to relax and reduce anxiety, improve self-awareness and motivation, and generate kindness. Driving it with a purpose in the educational space is important to cure most of the societal ills with just one pill. Heartfulness in education comes with passion, and seems to be amalgamation of everything we do in our lives. As an educator, I advice to focus on efficiency, effectiveness, diversity, he said.
Dr. Bhimaraya Metri, Director, IIM Tiruchirappalli said, “Heartful leadership is all about putting others first. In this way, leaders will create leaders hence, adopting influencer based model rather the control based model. The future belongs to those, who think about ALL BEING and not just human being.”
Dr. Elizabeth, Editor in Chief, Trainer & Curriculum Development, Heartfulness Institute, India referred Aristotle who said, “Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.” This is where Heartfulness is so effective – in educating the heart. And it is infinitely scalable, and available to students the world over. This way, as educators, we become enablers of the future generations. Emotional intelligence is important to serve the humanity. So, values, emotions, ethics, heartfulness come when we develop qualities of heart. We need to develop the ability of letting go and need to focus on our inner mind for continuous development.”
Mr. Kamal Singh, Executive Director, UN Global Compact Network, India said, “This is a joint Forum of UN GCNI, IIHMR University Jaipur, and the Heartfulness Institute. Higher Education leaders today, more than ever before, have a great responsibility to drive the much-needed changes across the entire education ecosystem. In order to transform education at large, higher education leaders may find Heartfulness-focused leadership to be quite a pragmatic approach.”
Dr. Ravi Gupta, Founder, CEO & Editor-in-Chief, Elets Technomedia, said “There is a huge gap in existing education system and the real societal issues of India. If the education system operates parallel with government policies, NGO’s, then we would be able to bring the required transformation.”
Dr. Geoffrey Clemants, Chairman, Commonwealth Infrastructure Partners, London, UK, while appreciating the India education system, said, that it has deep traditions of knowledge and skills. India should look for global leadership in the domain of higher education and it will inevitably emerge as a world known leader in transform education.