How The Education System Clutches Off The Best Of Minds.

 Thousands of young talented Indians from various disciplines have left our country in pursuit of better prospects over the years. For a long time, the thought of people relocating to another country was regarded as a badge of honor, a feather in one’s cap.

The most zealously followed fantasy. This was primarily due to India’s inability to provide those opportunities to its citizenry. We’re not in a position to do so right now, either. Is India’s brain drain problem worsening?

As per the data, India is second only to China in terms of its contribution to the international student population in the United States. This is an unusual change from past years; the total number of Indians seeking higher education in the United States has decreased by 4.4 percent from 2018-19.

It encourages Educated persons to contribute to the cultural and economic capital of their communities. However, it must be remembered that a large portion of Indians cannot afford such possibilities or, in many cases, even basic schooling.

There’s one more thing to be concerned about. India is losing much of its skilled people resources due to the migration of deserving students, a process known as the “brain drain.” According to the UN, India has the world’s largest diaspora, with the United States hosting the second-highest number of Indian migrants. The best minds are clearly drawn to the West’s richer pastures.

The top students are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to student migration. Students are increasingly dissatisfied with the existing Indian educational system, which they believe is failing to prepare them for the difficulties of a more globalized world.

Many young Indian students are leaving the country for higher education abroad due to a shortage of new courses. But this raises a worrisome question: what exactly distinguishes the Western education system from that of India? Well, The simplest method to distinguish the two educational systems is a skills-acquisition strategy (West) vs. a knowledge-acquisition approach (East) (India).

The crucial point here is that the Western educational system encourages “outside-the-box thinking.” It significantly fosters entrepreneurship, for example. Meanwhile, India has developed IITs, IIMs, law schools, and other prestigious institutions, with students consistently achieving 90% grades.

This makes it difficult for students to get into the universities of their choice, even if they have a 90% or higher acceptance rate.

Therefore Reversing this ‘migration’ is a tough challenge. For a variety of reasons, higher education in India is an unappealing prospect. Among them include dwindling research possibilities, unrealistic cut-offs at premier colleges, and declining university education quality.

In the QS World University Rankings 2021 too, no Indian university was listed among the top 100 universities in the world except two or three.

The disparity between education and employment is also a concern; even prior to Covid-19, job creation did not keep pace with the number of people looking for work. India has to reconsider its educational policies. In India, education is centered toward evaluating knowledge at all levels rather than teaching skills.

The analogy of “teaching a man to fish” nicely shows this principle. If I teach a man to fish, he will continue to fish long after I have passed away. The finest test crammers in India are recognized. Those who learn skills, and more crucially, how to use them, are rewarded in the West.

From a young age, creativity, original thinking, research, and innovation are all developed and encouraged (and the age seems to get younger every year).

All of this points to one fact: whereas Western students rarely apply to Indian colleges for undergraduate study, Indian parents are willing to pay up to 25 lakhs per year to get their children into the Western education system.

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