Dear Smriti,
I am Rahul and I work for a leading multinational.I am a graduate from Georgia tech and had decided to get back to India 4 years back.
I have grown up seeing you on the television. It is great to see you being bestowed with, probably, one of the most important ministries for India, not just for the next five years but for a long time to come.
As a child and then as an adolescent I had access to quality education. I have also wondered as a child, why it is so difficult to provide quality education to everyone in India.
I then grew up and was among those unfortunate souls who was under pressure to write the IIT JEE, and having narrowly failed to get through, had to settle for a NIT. History repeated after 4 years when again after writing the CAT, I could not get through into an IIM. That was it. All options in India were over for me and just like many other million kids, I went to get my graduation done, from a top university from the USA.
It was sad that India had lost a good student. Because students in India are judged by pure acumen in math and science. Not by their personal experiences and what they have learnt as a human being. Interviews in IIM s, are notorious for making the candidate feel like he should never have been born in the earth,rather than systematically judging his skills and what he/she can add to the university and consequently the country.
But I returned, leaving a hundred thousand dollar job. Believe me, it was not convenient, but I returned. To my homeland, with hope, of a better future. I helped start ups grow, like Flipkart and Myntra. But I have seen in my experience now, that though our youngsters are educated, I mean they have a degree, from a top notch college, they are not ready for a job. They lack so many soft skills which are part of the education dissemination process in the USA. I also unfortunately see so many engineers who could have been artists or musicians stuck at the wrong job. Consequently, not able to shine there. It is unfortunate.
I have had good teachers growing up. And I believe after parents, it is a teacher who influences the child, the most.
I feel we need a change at all levels. Our training for teachers needs a rethink, a reform of the middle school teaching style, a change of the competitive exams which gives smart people a chance - not just people who are able to solve a complex math problem in ten minutes, a system that encourages the girl child(and her family) to pursue education,a society that allows a child to do what he /she wants and is good at, and finally a committee, that researches, on a continuous basis, the most modern techniques of disseminating education and more importantly a strong core team to implement these measures, along with coming up with a roadmap to put India on the world map as a destination for quality education.
I want to be part of that team, where I can use my previous experience and my passion to make a change for my motherland. I want to work for you and with you since I see you have intent and I am inspired by you. I am equally, if not more, inspired by our prime minister. It is finally great to see a leader with a back bone. It would be great,if unlike other previous ministers in India whom I have wrote to, I see a reply at least from you. You can reach me at 91 9538094306 anytime.
Regards,
Rahul Ramkumar
