The Concept of Empowerment

The genesis of the concept of empowerment can be traced back to India’s freedom struggle and to the ideologies of its leaders, men of stature like Tagore, Gandhi, and Nehru. In a broad sense, empowerment is simply the power to grow, to set your own goals, values, and standards, and to live by them. It is the outcome of a free and self-reliant society. It represents freedom from a life of struggle, exploitation and oppression. Empowerment has never been expressed and implemented better than in the thoughts and actions of our freedom-fighters. Take Tagore’s famous poem, Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high. Here, the bard pleads for an India “Where knowledge is free / Where the world has not been broken up into fragments / By narrow domestic walls / Where words come out from the depth of truth / Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection / Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way / Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit / Where the mind is led forward / Into ever-widening thought and action.” By dreaming of an India awakened into “that heaven of freedom,” the bard craved an empowered nation, where its citizens knew no fetters; they were free to grow their minds to the realization of higher purposes.

What is literacy?

Unfortunately, the mission set by our founding fathers was not taken forward by their successors. Today, although 65% of India is supposed to be literate, the definition of literacy is itself misleading. It simply seeks to define as literate a person who can read and write simple words in any language with or without the necessity of a formal education. In reality, the concept of literacy has a more holistic definition.

Opportunity for India

One of the reasons why the world is looking at us so seriously today is because we have one of the largest youth populations in the world……. If we don’t educate the youth now, we run the risk of making them prey to communal or divisive forces intending to take advantage of their naiveté…..by educating them, we can instil in them a sense of discernment, maturity, self-worth and the confidence to know what they can achieve and deliver.

The Way of Educated Nations

To understand what it takes to build an EduNation………… it is important we see how other countries are approaching their national objectives on education.

In my personal quest to make EduNation a working reality, I visited several countries to understand how their systems work to benefit their people.

A well-developed education system can serve as the conscience-keeper of a nation. Further, it can correct itself in the light of society’s changing needs, and in that it can be the driver of change. Nothing bears out this truth more amply than a study of what transpired in the U.S. in the last fifty years.

Indian Education: Mistakes Owned are Mistakes Rectified

Our unprecedented population growth is a clear sign of our failure to provide mass education……. Before we strive toward becoming an EduNation, it is important we understand the socio-political factors that restricted the growth of education, factors that hold us back even today.

In Female Adult Literacy, India stands at 39.4%, while Indonesia is at 79.5%, Swaziland is 76.3%, and Nambia is at 78.5%. It is sad to note that India has 46% of its population aged 15 years and above as illiterates and that one-third of the world’s illiterate population is in India.

The world of knowledge is a world without boundaries, and for those who avail themselves of its opportunities there is unlimited growth and prosperity. I think India deserves that. Our people have waited too long to be denied any more opportunities.

EduNation: Doing it my way!

The early years were tough. We began out of a small shed in Chembur, a ground floor construction, no larger than 700 square feet and with a tiled roof. By pasting advertisements on compound walls, we managed to draw 149 students...

I was glad that the benefit of our personal experience could benefit our profession at large. This was proof that when you work for a cause larger than yourself, people sense the difference and extend their support.

EduNation: Seeing Opportunities Where Others Don’t

It must be said that up to the end of the Eighties, educational institutions commanded a fair share of respect and received the government support. This was the consequence of the fact that education functioned as a service-led enterprise rather than as the profit-driven industry it came to be later.

Despite our exponential growth, we take care to see that we secure 100% results at the board levels and that 90% of our students take home a first class. Moreover, we continue to maintain a personalized relationship with parents, never forgetting that they have entrusted to us the careers of their children.

EduNation: Building Institutions Against All Odds

In 1995, when the Pillai campus at New Panvel was being built, my daughter, Minerva, used to accompany me to the site, where I would issue instructions to my supervisors and take stock of the work in progress. While I would be engaged in this, my daughter, who was only ten years old then, noticed the children of the construction workers playing about idly. She asked me why they didn’t go to school... Promptly, I created a temporary arrangement at the site and deputed a teacher and a social worker to come and teach the children. Seeing this, children from the neighboring Zilla Parishad schools too began to attend our school. We were making remarkable progress, when government officials came and ordered us to close the school. According to the officials, our school was illegal and, therefore, it had to be closed...

First Ever Private-Public Sector Partnership

Among the many opportunities open to us for educational reengineering in India, the revival of public sector schools (many of them functioning in a state of mediocrity or approaching closure) affords excellent scope for revenue generation and change…………… HOC Maharashtra is located at Rasayani, a rich verdant stretch in the Raigad district, spread over 1000 acres.. The company had its own school that was once a flourishing institution……. I advised HOC to disinvest the unutilized infrastructure - that part of the land that was not being utilized for their core business - and to allot it to experienced professionals, who would make it economically viable.

On 1 May 2006, we were invited to take over the school. It was in a derelict condition, with all the signs of long-standing neglect. The new term was barely 45 days away... Today, within barely two years of our taking charge, the HOC School has over a thousand students, seven hundred in...

Creating a World-class Institution out of World Travels

There were two scams that came to light ….. The first was that of an international school in South Mumbai that was being run out of four shops; the second was that of an international school run out of a jettisoned BMC school. The fact that the civic authorities were partners to this deception points to the profits involved.

I was prepared to create my own system with the “Best of the West” practices and with recognized affiliations, of course. I set about creating the Dr. Pillai Global Academy, spread over 150,000 square feet... I was clear that the focus would be on mentoring, as opposed to book knowledge and cramming. We would seek to unlock the individual potential of every child and to incite a natural curiosity that made the pursuit of knowledge a matter of choice, not compulsion.

Bricks and mortar do not alone build an institution. Nor is it enough to have a vision and the resources to back it. An institution is built on the strength of its people - their motivation, their commitment, and their efforts. Only when people see growth within themselves, will they bring growth to your enterprise.

Pitfalls in Institution-building

The entrepreneur who ventures into the education sector in India would be well advised to know of the daunting pitfalls that could test his/her patience and diminish the enthusiasm that marks an enterprise of purpose. It must be remembered that great institutions are built not merely on individual enterprise and efforts, but through political will and state cooperation.

State-supported Initiatives: The Goa Case Study

Educational institutions flourish best where there is state support and patronage. Every state has to make a conscious effort to provide incentives that draw larger number of students into schools. This is important in the light of the fact that the India Vision 2020 is aiming for an India where there is 100% literacy.

The Goa government plans to reshape the education system to take a more entrepreneurial focus; its objective is to create the next generation leaders.

It appears that Goan women are emerging as better candidates for employment; many of them have post-graduate qualifications to show. This is a promising sign, for well-educated women, who would not want anything less for their children.

Navigating the New Economy

Simply put, globalization is the creation of a level playing field that grants equal opportunities to all economies and all individuals to collaborate or compete effectively as per their skills.

For economics to thrive, it has to move out of politics. Two, by empowering citizens with a system of education that will extend the pro-globalization agenda to other aspects of national growth, like civic accountability, human relations, labor laws, legal rights, and a respect for the environment. Without these reforms, it will be impossible to navigate the new economy and implement a sustainable model of growth.

How a Knowledge Economy can transform the Rural Economy

In conclusion, it is not our rate of growth we need to worry about, but the obstacles that slow us down and prevent us from reaching our full potential. So how do we work around this?

In a knowledge economy, information technology can make existing processes and assets more productive and efficient.

EduNation: Way to an Empowered Nation

Truly it is said: “Education is too important to be left solely to educators.” To transform India into an EduNation, we need the collaborative will and effort of a multitude of participants that include the Central and State governments, universities, accreditation agencies, examination boards, syllabus designers, principals, teachers, administrators, students, private institutions, banks, philanthropists, and parents. The task and challenges that confront us are by no means small.

With EduNation as the single-point agenda, I would like to suggest a 50-point reformation program.

Mentoring: the Arrival of the 21st Century Teacher

Let us not lose sight of the fact that we no longer live in a world that is going to accept its citizens on the strength of a degree. Besides his/her professional know-how, an individual is going to be measured on the basis of other skills like technological skills, communication skills, networking skills, leadership skills, and inter personal skills. The quicker he/she acquires these, the faster they will progress.

I am pleased to share below some of the principles of mentorship and quality management practiced at my own schools and which have proved extremely beneficial to us, in terms of creating model teachers and an inspiring model of growth.

Summing Up: Values and Viewpoints

No enterprise is possible without values. Values are a man’s proper estate on a road less traveled, and when harnessed to ideas they become institutions. In my career, spanning over a period of 40 years, I have acquired and nurtured a set of values that have served as my guiding lights. When things looked remote or unattainable, they gave me hope; when things were working to my advantage, they brought to me a sense of assurance in myself.