Umesh Malhotra, Founder CEO of Hippocampus Learning Centres shares his thoughts on Ed-sector growth
On December 25th 2014, I heard our Prime Minister Narendra Modi say: “The richest of the rich and the poorest of the poor wants good education for his child. The world today needs good teachers and India, with its immense youth power, can export teachers to the world”. Export teachers to the world. Did I hear that right? And did I hear that from a politician. Most people possiblyignored this vision, but there was a ring of nostalgia around it for me.
There are 3 reasons why India can quickly become successful as a teaching super power –
Firstly, the teaching industry in India is very mature. India has adopted many novel teaching methods from Montessori to International Baccalaureate. These systems have tremendous credibility amongst Indians globally and are also gaining traction amongst people of other nationalities.
Secondly, India is a hot bed of educational innovation. Innovations like ‘Hey Math‘ are being used as a standard in Singapore, while Planet Read’s ground breaking work on same language subtitling to improve literacy skills won Brij Kothari the Schwab Social Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2009.
Thirdly, success of initiatives like TEACH for INDIA demonstrates that young people in India are intrigued by education and looking for careers in primary education.