Narayan Murthy, the founder of India’s tech giant Infosys and an IIT Kanpur alum, recently expressed worry over the state of his alma mater. The business tycoon stated that even the country’s premier science and research institutions—the – IITs – have fallen victim to the evil of rote learning.
IITians, as per Murthy, fall into the trap of mugging information due to the “tyranny of coaching classes." Couple this with a dwindling Socratic pedagogy, and that is why India fails to solve real-world problems with research, he said. Interestingly, the organs of the IITs endorse Murthy’s narrative.
A senior professor at IIT Bombay told the Free Press Journal, “There is a notable decline in the quality of students that walk into the IIT. These students have mastered problem solving without understanding the philosophy that goes behind it. Independent and creative thinking, which is very necessary for research, has been taken away from these children.”
A large portion of this was blamed on the genesis of a ‘coaching class culture’, that came into the picture after a sharp increase in JEE applicants. “The JEE Advanced exam is inhumane. It prides itself on being one of the toughest in the world while testing young students for subjects they don’t have enough time to assimilate,” the professor said.
This year, nearly 1.5 lakh candidates appeared for JEE Advanced, while only 40,000 qualified for the test. With competition in abundance, securing a ‘seat’ has become a primary concern for many. “I went to school for six hours, came back to have lunch, and then attended coaching for four hours,” said an IIT Madras student.
“If you are not in a focused and feverish state in your 11th and 12th standard, then you are not getting a seat into an IIT.” “In my time here, I have seen an increasing number of students pick and pour information without processing it,” said Aryan Gupta, a BS student from IIT Bombay.
“Many students get placed in sectors like consulting, which is why they are never concerned with their whole discipline,” he said. A highly saturated discipline prevents students from getting the satisfaction they wish to get from learning.
“We are encouraged to think for ourselves in college, but the vast coursework is tiring,” said Nandini Manwane from IIT Goa. Alums from IITs who now run their own companies, ironically, echo Mr Murthy’s sentiment. Explains Badal Soni, co-founder of EngineersGuru, an EdTech startup: “I can confirm that this was true during their times as well.”
“The primary reason behind rote learning is an outdated syllabus. I passed out in 2014 and IITs are still teaching today what they taught me back then. The course does not kot keep up with market requirements.
