LETTERS: Poor education

Rahul Gandhi may not have spent too much time in his classroom in St Stephen’s college as some leading faculty members have said in the press, but there is little doubt that what he is saying is correct. All of us who have gone to school and college know that the emphasis is more on mugging up useless pieces of information and set formulae. This may have helped when it comes to certain professions, but there is a world of a difference in the quality of a top US-trained student and a locally-educated student. US students tend to be more open-minded and willing to experiment with ideas and concepts of things they are not familiar with. This is then manifested in the number of students wanting to go in for higher studies in the US, in the fact that most economic and management theories are attributable to US citizens, and so on. India is very good at the BPO-type of adaptive business, but when it comes to frontline work, the Indian education system has not been able to deliver. Rahul Gandhi has got it absolutely right, though it is doubtful he will be able to do anything about it either when his party comes to power.

Ravi Prasad, Mumbai