Education can bridge social and economic gaps in society, noted IT and Industries secretary Jayesh Ranjan as he addressed a gathering after inaugurating the three-day ‘Global Impact Summit – 2022’ at Woxsen University at Kamkole in Munipally mandal of Sangareddy district on Monday.
“Fifty years ago, India and China had the same GDP. If you see today, both nations are poles apart in terms of economy. China’s economy is much stronger than India’s. What led India down was our K-12 Education System. We have many Indias within India. On one side, we have extremely prosperous citizens and on the other, people below the poverty line. Education can be a great leveller,” he said.
The summit commenced with a talk on ‘Emerging Technologies and the Future of Higher Education Landscape in India’. “The same Indians perform better when they go abroad. Many of the world’s top-class companies are headed by Indians. Recently, when we visited Qualcomm office in USA, we found six out of seven top leadership members to be Indians,” said Mr. Ranjan, adding that practical system (practicalisation) in education plays a very important role in engaging and preparing future business leaders.
He felt that internship must be made mandatory and monitored strictly. He also highlighted that Telangana has become a role model in terms of creating a supportive ecosystem for entrepreneurship.
Speaking earlier, Principal Commercial Officer, US Consulate, Andrew Edlefsen said that education is the most important bridge between US and India. “We need to strengthen bridges between the two countries and would like to move partnerships with India in education. In 2020-21, as many as 167,000 Indian students studied in the US. Almost one-third of Indian students studying in other countries are in the US,” he said.
Nishit Jain, senior adviser (Asia)-European Foundation for Management Development, an international school accreditation system, said the foundation is acting as a bridge between the corporate world and academia.
Woxsen University CEO Vishal Khurma attended the session.
