Can we revive India?

At first when we transact with government officials, we experience a lackadaisical attitude, one devoid of all human care, intent on something else, their own. These are today's people - not merely the public "servants", but the public too. We go to a local store to buy groceries and either break queues or find others doing so for impatience is how most live.

The first time you pay a bribe, you are only encouraged to follow, as you "seem" to have saved precious time. The law takes its own course, which in semantics means at least 10% of your life-time (and that is relatively a high cost of time.) It doesn't stop here.

Stagnating Education in India - Can we make it work?

An Education would imply a system that imparts knowledge, skills and habits. These in turn would help an individual with the ability to think abstractly, express new ideas and evolve new habits. Almost every education system I have seen in India involves an autodidact who supervises the entire education process.

In the entire chain shown in the diagram above, the "autodidact" is still present, in a form of propagation of authoritarian education.

BSNL Low Cost Tablet

BSNL, working with "Pantel Technologies" in Noida has come up with three low-cost tablet alternatives providing tethered data plans.

The lowest cost is a 7-inch tablet priced at Rs 3,250 whose most tardy feature is a Resistive Touchscreen. All models have relatively lower RAM than the glitterati tablets that vie with the likes of iPad.

These are nowhere close and are strictly meant to be affordable. They are not meant to be positioned against the Samsung Galaxy Tab or Motorola Xoom or Acer Iconia. The iPad is way out of league in comparison.

For those who would be interested in getting heavier tablets for a more affordable budget, you could take a look at the specifications. All the Tablets are named 'Penta T-PAD' and the interesting part is the number of ports they come with.

Human Learning

I have been reading recent articles debating that the earliest Homo Sapien fossil over 1.5 Million years old, contrary to popular assumption. The most intact one dates back to almost 30,000 years ago. New evidence seems to point to the fact that we lived alongside several other members of Homonidae and Australopethicus including some ancestral species who did not evolve into newer species.

For Administrators, Lecturers, Students and Teachers who believe that the capacity of the Human Brain to learn and understand is variant across different people, I have created a presentation clearly showing that the physiological capacity is (almost equally) existent for all humans, but behavioral aspects may influence styles or patterns of learning - and the perceptions of a need to learn.

Learning and therefore Education itself has to undergo the next revolution. The Institutions that are Schools and Colleges today will have to progress and permit learning-from-home, apprenticeship, certification reducing the need for too much infrastructure. This is to allow everyone choose their own patterns of learning and consulting authorities. At the same time, the infrastructure required is only going to increase, but its usage collectively or in volume is going to be less regular - in the interest of propagating actual Skills and Knowledge.

Here is the presentation for Download [FilesFlash]
Human Learning.pptx - 4.61 MB (Use Microsoft PowerPoint 2003 or Higher for Best Experience)

For a better experience in reading the presentation, you could read my prior blog entry on the "Ascent of Man" which has an infographic which shows the scholarly accepted dates for several evolutionary events specific to Humans.

Education System - Today

I have been always thinking that the education system needs a major change. Recently, I came across a video animated by RSA Animation, a talk given Sir Ken Robinson on (posted here http://bit.ly/gRi2pP). The similarity of the present education system to Industrial manufacture (batches graded in terms of years [of manufacture]), the absence of emphasis on creativity and the systematic removal of divergent thinking is definitely counter-productive to humanity. While we spend a vast portion of time dedicated to education, the entire process would be wastage unless we correct it. The best way to start improving the system is to first understand it.

Watch this video - the animation makes it easier to stay with the talk.