Time for a Knowledge Revolution

India has made tremendous strides in its economic and social

development in the past two decades. With the economy growing at more than 9%,

all major sectors are witnessing exponential growth. And, all this has been

aptly supported by a sound educational system. However, it is important that the

education system is revamped and fine-tuned to make it match the changing

domestic and international requirements.

Education is a critical input in human resource development. It

plays a crucial role in the development of society. Greater literacy and basic

education help individuals make better use of available economic opportunities.

Education forms the backbone of a nation and is one of the most important

indicators of a countrys growth and development. The major indicators of

socio-economic developmentgrowth rate of the economy, birth and death rates,

infant mortality rate (IMR), and literacy rateare interconnected. The

literacy rate of a country has been a major determinant in the rise and fall of

other indicators.

The New Asset



Education is becoming more significant in the new world of information.
Knowledge is rapidly replacing raw materials and labor as the most critical

input for success. Knowledge has become the new asset. More than half of the GDP

of developing countries like India is knowledge-based. This necessarily means

that education and knowledge are at the centerstage of any development process.

The rise of the knowledge economy at a global level has once again reinforced

education, in all its forms, as the key economic and business driver.

The education sector in India is trifurcated into elementary,

secondary, and higher education. Besides, there is technical education, adult

education, distance education, language development, scholarships, book

promotion, and planning and administration. Elementary education encompasses

education of children aged between 6-14 years; secondary education, between

14-18; and higher education, students aged 18 and above.

Realizing the importance of education, the government has

decided to make free and compulsory elementary education a fundamental right.

The central government, in partnership with state governments, has initiated a

number of programs to fulfill the constitutional obligation and national

aspirations for education. These include National Literacy Mission and Sarva

Shiksha Abhiyan. Though these programs have tasted some success, the needs of

the growing population demand that such programs do a lot more to achieve the

desired results.

Public-Private Partnership



As education was considered a social service in the past, the government was
the sole provider of education. However, with liberalization and globalization

of economy, it has become evident that government alone cannot bear the cost of

the education sector. While the private sector has stepped in to fill the gap

and has increasingly enhanced its profile in the education sector over the last

decade, its role is still not properly defined and is far from satisfactory.

The key challenges faced by the education sector are: low

accessibility, low participation and still lower equity, quality of the

education imparted and relevance to the changing times. In fact, the Indian

education system has not been able to keep pace with the developments in the

outer arena and, thus, its value is dwindling on the global front. This has made

the Indian government change the education policies and make the sector more

vibrant and flexible to meet the rapidly diversifying needs of the growing

economy.

A Knowledge Economy



The time is opportune for India to make its transition to the knowledge
economyan economy that creates, disseminates, and uses knowledge to enhance

its growth and development. India has many of the key ingredients for making

this transition. It has a critical mass of skilled, English-speaking knowledge

workers, especially in the sciences and technology sector, a well-functioning

democracy, one of the largest markets in the world, macroeconomic stability, a

dynamic private sector, a well-developed financial sector, and a broad and

diversified science and technology infrastructure. But, the most favored

advantage is a well-developed ICT sector. Building on its IT strengths, India

can harness the benefits of the knowledge revolution to improve its economic

performance and boost the welfare of its people.

Rapid advances in ICT are dramatically affecting economic and

social activities, as well as the acquisition, creation, dissemination, and use

of knowledge. The use of ICT is reducing transaction costs and lowering the

barriers of time and space. More people have come in the gambit of educational

services because of the increased reach facilitated by newer delivery channels

for the Indian educational system.

The educational institutions in India, along with the support

and dedicated efforts of the Ministry of Human Resource and Development, are

looking to build up their basic IT infrastructure and develop networking between

their various institutes spread across the country. With the setting in of new

concepts like online education, cyber-age education, distance education,

e-learning and virtual learning environment, the IT market in the education

sector is going to be driven by the hardware and software markets. A major boost

to the hardware is given by the fact that today the emphasis is on delivering

the educational content in soft forms like on CDs, Internet, through mails and

other soft copies. The content is losing its value in the hard form of printed

books and magazines.

A revolutionary concept emerging on the landscape of the Indian

education system is Computers On Wheels (COWs). They hold a set of computers (10

to 20), usually laptops, often a printer, with the possibility to connect to a

school network via one network connection. COWs can be wheeled into a classroom

when the teacher wants to use computers for a specific activity. Thus, the cost

of establishing a computer laboratory is saved. And, this is just a beginning;

there are many more innovative concepts in the pipeline. Tomorrow, the Indian

children will be able to study from their homes through the Internet and

web-conferencing. Thus, the education segment in India is expected to see a

major IT revolution by 2011, largely driven by the lure of online delivery of

study material, revolutionary concepts and online education.

The Internet is capturing people who have never been touched by

education. Therefore, India is expected to become the school and the university

for the dot-com generation in another 4-5 years. With all shaping up well for

the growing IT market in the Indian education sector, it is now up to the

vendors to fine-tune their offerings to the specific needs of the sector and

work in close collaboration with institutes and universities. The vast potential

lies untapped, the initiative to capture it needs to unfold.

Parishesh Mishra and

Arpan Gupta,



Industry Verticals Research Practice, IDC India



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