Prime Minister Narendra Modi's advisor Sanjeev Sanyal had a different opinion on the value of competitive tests like the UPSC, which draw lakhs of candidates every year. On the ANI Podcast with Smita Prakash, Sanjeev Sanyal remarked that traditional curriculum and test studying are becoming less important because of changing technologies and AI-driven learning.
He remarked, "Technology is changing so fast, and AI is vastly superior at delivering cutting-edge knowledge." He also said that using old educational systems is no longer good for students. He stated that teachers should support apprenticeships and hands-on learning instead of sticking with traditional ways of doing things.
Sanyal said, "Being a stenographer may have been a good option for somebody in the 1940s, but technology has changed, and it has now become a routine affair." He claimed that university courses can't keep up with smartphones because they change every few months. He said, “I cannot have a curriculum that matches that pace in the way university education currently functions,” and he talked about how hard it is to keep faculty members' knowledge up to date all the time.
Sanjeev Sanyal told Smita Prakash on the ANI Podcast that what he said was not meant to make universities seem less important. He went on to say, "This does not mean universities have nothing to do. Just that doing it the way they are doing it today is a waste of time."
He also underlined how important it is for students to start working earlier and become used to the idea of "learning on the job." Sanyal observed, “Till the 20th century, people did not go to university, and even today most human beings don’t. Do they not have social lives?”
Sharing his personal experience, he added, “I felt I was wasting my time in college. I was getting an education, but there were five to six hours where I was doing nothing.” While he enjoyed university life, he admitted, “If systems allowed, I would have preferred to start working at 18, study online, and just take exams.”
