Al Gomhuria, P.6 (29-2-2008)

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By: Abdallah Nassar (from Bombay)

    Education is the milestone India reckoning on in a bid to put an end to the challenges facing it, such as elimination of poverty, achievement of high growth rates and maintenance of social harmony. Education is facing several problems in India. However, there is a real education reform programme, which is meant to help sharpening the students' skills and qualify them for the labour market. Class size is another problem in India, as there is a teacher for every 47 students. Quality of education in India is not compromised.
 

I noticed during my stay in India that vocational training is better regarded than academic education.

Education reform in India is not only meant to meet the demands of plants and companies at home for efficient and skillful labour, but also to meet the increasing demands of international markets. The Indian labour exported to the world countries are highly trained and qualified and so they get better salaries. In fact, most of the European and American companies compete to recruit Indian IT specialists. The CEO of an American IT company said, "I was thinking to have head office of my India-based plant in New York, but I recognized my mistake when I visited India and saw the Indian managerial skills, experience and dedication."

The CEO of this American company added, "During my meetings with the Indian managers, who are highly qualified, I used to be warmly received by them." They used to call him "sir", but he told them not to call him like this and just call him by his first name. He told them also not to stand up whenever he goes here and these inside the plant. He told them, "I came here to learn from you and we are all colleagues. We have a common objective, namely, the promotion of the performance of our plant."

This situation recalls me of the Indian manager Agrawal, who is presently working in Egypt. Mr. Agrawal, under the Egyptian privatization programme, acquired an Egyptian company for resins. He seeks to expand the scope of the company's activities and turn it into an international company. During a visit to his company, I found the workers and engineers there calling him by his first name and he used to deal with them in a friendly way and listen to their opinions. In the dinning hall inside the company, one can never fell the difference between engineers, workers, mangers and even owners of the company. Everybody there knows his work well and is dedicated to finish it the best way. The management system in India is more interested in sharpening and promoting the skills and efficiency of the workers rather than setting up code of penalties against them. There is a firm conviction in India that anybody neglecting his work is harming his company as well as his family. So, everybody in India is dedicated to his work and knows all his duties before his rights.

Management in India takes care about the workers' welfare and listens to their requests pertaining to the increase of salaries and improvement of healthcare services. In most of the companies, plants and big retailers, there are special medical departments, which follow up health conditions of the workers and deal with any emergency state. In light of these work conditions, the Indian workers exert their utmost efforts at workplace. All companies and plants in India have a board of honour, which includes names of workers offered great contributions to promote the performance of the company.

Moreover, management officials and workers interact with each other on daily basis. In every section and department inside the plant, there is a board in which they wrote a famous saying, latest news about the performance of the section and other news about social events.

The visitor of plants or companies in India will notice how clean they are, because every worker feels, as if it were his home. The workers are also keen on the quality of the production. Some plants in India offer social and healthcare services to the families of the workers. Plants sometimes provide training for the sons of the workers during summer holiday so that they can catch up with the procession of technology.

We can say that education is the secret behind the development you can feel everywhere in India at banks, companies and even bus stations.
 

The Indians do not speak abut natural resources or capitals. They say that some countries have oil wells, but they have IT experts. They believe that their human resources, unlike oil wells, would never dry up. 

Quotable quote:" Genius people come up with great ideas and workers turn them into reality", French intellectual Joseph Gobart.

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