Coaching centres create intellectual zombies rather than creative thinkers, Dhankhar says

“We cannot allow our education to be so smeared and tarnished. Sight of billboards, advertisements in newspapers. Where does the money come from? It comes from those who either take loans or who painstakingly pay to make their future brighter. Surely this is not optimal utilization of money. And these advertisements are alluring but they are eyesores for our civilisational ethos,” the VP said, adding, “We must end this assembly line culture because this culture is very dangerous for our education. Coaching centres are against the flow of National Education Policy.”

He said that this, “creates unnecessary hiccups, impediments in growth, progress… I am sure this will haunt you forever and help change the mindset of the people at large. And I say so particularly because those students who are in coaching centres, they are in silos, they are not aware that the opportunity basket for them in Bharat is ever growing.”

Criticising rote learning culture, he said, “We are facing the crisis of cramming culture which has transformed vibrant minds into mechanical repositories of temporary information. There is no absorption. There is no understanding. It is creating intellectual zombies rather than creative thinkers. Cramming creates memory without meaning and adds degrees without depth.”

Underlining how obsession with marks is harming the spirit of learning, he said, “The obsession with perfect grades and standardised scores have compromised curiosity, which is an inalienable facet of human intelligence. The seats are limited but coaching centers are all over the country. They prepare the minds of students for years together and robotize them. Their thinking has absolutely stymied. A lot of psychological problems can arise out of it.”

In this context, he said, “National Education Policy, I am very confident, will salvage us from the ossified education system put in place by colonisers. It has been dismantled. It has been removed.”

The VP also said that we are getting into a new era of nationalism where “technological leadership is the new frontier of patriotism. We have to be world leaders in this. The battleground of the 21st century is no longer land or sea. Gone are those days of conventional warfare. Our prowess, our power has to be determined by code, cloud and cyber, and for that, you have a great role to play,” he told the students.

“Nations will no longer be compromised or colonised by armies but armies now have been replaced by algorithms. Sovereignty will not be lost through invasions but through dependence on foreign digital infrastructure. You must have seen, if we get technology-driven equipment from outside, that country has the power to bring us to a standstill,” the VP said.

Rajasthan Governor Haribhau Bagde, IIIT Kota Chairperson Lt. Gen. (retd.) AK Bhatt and other dignitaries were present on the occasion.