Education 2047 #Blog 41 (18 JUN 2025)

Introduction: The Human Deficit in a Technocratic Age

In the race toward technological excellence, Indian higher education has focused disproportionately on standardized achievement. Our premier institutions—celebrated for their academic rigor—produce graduates with impressive resumes, yet many lack the emotional, ethical, and collaborative skills critical for leadership in a rapidly evolving world. Meanwhile, students from smaller, under-resourced institutions often demonstrate resilience, creativity, and empathy—but remain marginalized by a system that measures worth primarily through marks and entrance exam scores.

This disconnect is not just an educational flaw—it is a strategic bottleneck in India’s march toward Viksit Bharat by 2047. As we stand on the cusp of an AI-led transformation of work and society, the need to cultivate human capabilities that machines cannot replicate—empathy, ethical judgment, systems thinking, and value-driven leadership—has never been more urgent.

The Cognitive Illusion: Why High Scores Mislead

The current obsession with examination scores perpetuates what may be called the “Great Cognitive Illusion.” High scores are mistaken for high capability. Yet educational psychologists and labor economists have long known that performance in standardized tests correlates more with socioeconomic privilege than with real-world ability. Pattern recognition, memory, and speed—traits rewarded by exams—are precisely the areas where Artificial Intelligence (AI) now excels.

What exams fail to capture are the intangibles: the ability to navigate ambiguity, resolve conflict, understand cultural contexts, or lead change. In fact, top scorers often struggle in environments where these qualities matter most—entrepreneurship, public policy, social innovation, and even interdisciplinary research.

In contrast, learners who may not rank high in tests but have been engaged in solving real-world problems often demonstrate far greater leadership, perseverance, and ingenuity—traits essential for building a Viksit Bharat.

From Syllabus to Society: The Case for Problem-Centric Learning

One of the root causes of this misalignment is India’s rigid, subject-siloed educational structure. The prevailing approach separates knowledge domains artificially and places undue emphasis on content mastery rather than application or integration.

In my own reflections—particularly in the Breaking Silos blog series—I have argued that we must pivot from a subject-driven system to a problem-solving-driven ecosystem. Real-life challenges are inherently interdisciplinary: a water crisis is not just an engineering problem; it is also a governance, social, environmental, and economic issue. To prepare learners to solve such challenges, education must immerse them in complex, authentic problems from the outset.

This shift demands that:

Problems, not subjects, become the organizing principle of curricula.
Faculty evolve from content deliverers to curators of problem contexts.
Assessments shift from memory-based evaluations to evidence of problem-solving, innovation, and social impact.

The Affective Domain: Our Untapped Differentiator

Bloom’s taxonomy reminds us that education operates across three domains: cognitive (knowledge), psychomotor (skills), and affective (values, emotions, attitudes). While the cognitive domain has received maximum attention, the affective domain has remained grossly underdeveloped.

Yet, it is precisely in this affective domain that human beings remain irreplaceable. AI can now perform many tasks that once defined white-collar expertise—coding, data analysis, summarization. What it cannot do is exercise compassion, demonstrate integrity, or inspire trust.

This calls for a massive reorientation of higher education. Emotional intelligence, ethical reasoning, cultural sensitivity, and empathy must be intentionally cultivated—not left to chance. Institutions must invest in environments, mentors, and experiences that model and reward these qualities.

Reclaiming the Gurukul Legacy: Wisdom as a Way of Life

India’s ancient Gurukul system offers a powerful counter-model. Education in Gurukuls was immersive, values-driven, and personalized. Teachers were not mere instructors but acharyas—living embodiments of wisdom, guiding learners in knowledge and character. Education focused not only on vidya (knowledge) but on viveka (discernment) and seva (service).

The shift toward heutagogy—a model of self-determined learning—is, in many ways, a rediscovery of the Gurukul’s essence. When learners are free to explore real-world challenges, reflect on their experiences, and act upon their insights, they grow holistically. This is education that does not just inform but transforms.

The Fred Astaire Problem: Why Modeling Matters

As Fred Astaire aptly observed, “The hardest job kids face today is learning good manners without seeing any.” Similarly, students cannot learn collaboration or ethics through textbooks alone. They need environments where these values are lived, not just taught.

Role-modeling by faculty, immersive mentorships, and community-driven projects are essential to embedding the affective domain. Faculty must see themselves as “designers of experience,” not lecturers. Problem-solving-based learning environments offer a natural context for developing social and ethical maturity—students must negotiate with stakeholders, deal with resource constraints, and consider the consequences of their choices.

In my proposed SPRINT model (Self-Paced, Problem-based, Reflective, Innovative, Navigated, Transformative), such integration becomes feasible. The model demands active learning from the highest levels of Bloom's Taxonomy—Evaluation and Creation—while deeply engaging learners in the affective domain.

Artificial Intelligence as a Tipping Point

AI is not a threat to human labor—it is a mirror. It reflects what is mechanical in us and compels us to focus on what is uniquely human.

AI’s rising dominance means that:

Cognitive skills are no longer scarce.
Human traits are the new currency: empathy, ethics, systems thinking, creativity.

What does this mean for Indian universities? They must now evolve from content transmission centers to incubators of moral imagination and problem-solving. Institutions that cling to outdated metrics (marks, credits, passive lectures) will become obsolete in a world where intelligent systems outperform humans in routine tasks.

Toward a New Vision: Universities as Problem-Solving Ecosystems

To respond to this shift, I propose a restructured model for Indian higher education aligned with the following design principles:

a) Problem-Based Organization of Curriculum

Courses should be built around enduring problems—climate change, public health, mobility, education inequality—rather than subjects.
Students from diverse disciplines should co-create solutions, drawing upon different lenses.

b) Living Labs and Civic Projects

Universities must partner with municipalities, NGOs, and industries to embed students in real-life problem contexts.
These become learning sprints where students reflect, iterate, and present outcomes as part of assessment.

c) Faculty as Experience Designers

Faculty must be trained to shift from content experts to mentors, problem framers, and critical friends.
FDPs must include exposure to industry problems, emerging technologies, and real-world case-based teaching.

d) Flexible and Modular Learning Pathways

Replace rigid degrees with learning portfolios built on demonstrated capabilities, micro-credentials, and peer-reviewed projects.
Leverage the Academic Bank of Credits (ABC) and National Digital University infrastructure to enable this.

e) Assessment Beyond Exams

Move from written exams to project impact, stakeholder feedback, and growth in emotional and ethical judgment.
Use rubrics to evaluate collaboration, leadership, and value alignment in addition to technical accuracy.

f) Technology-Augmented Learning, Human-Centered Goals

AI can personalize learning paths, recommend resources, and simulate complex environments.

But the ultimate goal must remain: forming responsible, wise, and empathetic citizens.

Viksit Bharat and the Imperative of Human Capital

Viksit Bharat will not be built in classrooms alone. It will emerge from ecosystems where learners become problem-solvers, thinkers become doers, and success is defined by societal contribution rather than individual marks.

India's youth must be trained not to beat machines, but to become more human than ever before—to lead ethically, collaborate widely, and innovate responsibly.

The metrics must shift:

From marks to meaning,
From degree to dignity,
From knowledge to wisdom.

Our institutional frameworks must catch up with this reality. National bodies such as AICTE and UGC must mandate problem-based and experiential learning, aligned with NEP 2020 and India@2047 goals. Funding must prioritize interdisciplinary hubs, rural immersion, and value-based education.

Seva-Mārga: A Journey Rooted in Service and Learning

I have witnessed this transformation in my own journey. After serving in national science and education policy roles, I chose to step away from the safety of a government position to pursue a deeper calling: reforming how we teach and learn. Whether it was walking away mid-game on Kaun Banega Crorepati to give others a fair chance, or designing the SPRINT model to replace rigid lesson plans with self-paced, problem-based learning, I have come to believe that true education lies not in outscoring others, but in uplifting them. For the Centre for Heutagogy & Faculty Excellence on the anvil (in the JIS University), I am working closely with faculty across India to co-create a culture where empathy, ethics, and collaboration are not add-ons—but foundational to how we prepare human capital for a humane, equitable, and developed India.

Conclusion: The Future is Human

“Sa Vidya Ya Vimuktaye”—That alone is education which liberates.

In the AI age, liberation means freeing learners from rote content, rigid timetables, and narrow definitions of success. It means giving them the agency to solve problems that matter, the values to act wisely, and the courage to lead compassionately.

The opportunity is immense. India can become not just a talent factory but a values-driven knowledge civilization—a global leader that balances technology with empathy, growth with ethics, and intelligence with wisdom.

Let us move beyond grades—and toward greatness.

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About the Author

Bringing together a rich career at the intersection of education policy and technology foresight, the author currently serves as the Pro-Chancellor of JIS University, Kolkata. Previously, he held key national roles as Adviser to the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and as Scientist at the Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC).

With decades of experience tracking technological change and its implications for learning, he was a core contributor to the seminal report Technology Vision 2035: Roadmap for Education, which envisioned how emerging technologies would reshape India’s education system.

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s own and do not reflect the official stance of any institution.

Your reflections and perspectives are welcome in the comments—thank you for engaging.

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