New approach to education in 21st century mooted

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The ongoing debate on who will be the country’s next Prime Minister was the opening question put to Shashi Tharoor MP by Inker robot at a seminar held at the Kanakakkunnu Palace here on Saturday.  The seminar- ‘New approaches to education in the 21st century’ - inaugurated by Tharoor is jointly organised by the International Foundation for Futuristic Education and Research (IFFER) and All India Professionals’ Congress.  

Tharoor said in his view there’s a rising sentiment in society against the BJP and a democratic front led by Congress chief Rahul Gandhi will be voted to power. Tharoor’s recently used facebook word ‘Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia’ was another interesting question posed by the robot. He asked Tharoor to shorten his long word. Tharoor replied the word means ‘fear of long words’ and said such kinds of fear is not good for people as well as robots. 

The robot in a depressed tone said he is deeply upset with the recent violence and atrocities committed in Kerala, in particular against the media. He asked the MP, as a parliamentarian, how will he proactively react to this other than merely condemning the rampage. Tharoor said he is against hartals per se while making it clear attacks against the media should be discouraged. 

Around 200 students from 18 schools attended the programme. 
Tharoor interacted with the children after his speech. He said in addition to artificial intelligence and technology, humanities should be included in the curriculum. Tharoor said Artificial Intelligence(AI) is a danger and opportunity at the same time. So the government should concentrate more on R&D. 

He said big corporations like Infosys, TCS and others will be able to build and organise their own camps to meet the needs of the industry. India is going to be the world’s biggest power because of the high demographic rate of youngsters and for that educational system should change. The students should be able to think out of the box. 

According to Tharoor, the engineering courses should be tailor-made for the industry’s demands.
“The engineers must be taught in such a way to work according to the need of the industry. They must be prepared to get adapted to the changing work environment,” he said.