Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi and Education Minister Manish Sisodia.Local entrepreneurs over big names is what the Delhi government’s education department is looking at to inspire students in its schools to become job creators instead of job seekers.
Under its entrepreneurship curriculum launched this year, the government is holding special classes to “develop an entrepreneurship mindset” in children. One segment of the curriculum is interaction between entrepreneurs and students to help them understand what it takes to start one’s own business.
“Instead of bringing in big names, we are focussing on local entrepreneurs so that children can relate to them more. A Narayan Murthy will be an inspiration to a few children, but most will think it’s an unbeatable target. By bringing in local success stories, we show children that this is what a person from Mayur Vihar or Rohini can do,” Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia told The Indian Express.
The government last week invited applications from entrepreneurs to act as a resource pool for these interactions. So far, around 2,200 applications have been received.
According to Sisodia, the government needs to build a pool of at least 7,000 resource persons to cater to all schools. “To begin with, we need at least 7,000 people to cover all classes. The idea behind bringing local success stories is to have a person who can talk about challenges that the students identify with. If they see a neighbour doing well, it is easier to believe they can do it too,” Sisodia said.
The curriculum was rolled out in all classrooms this month. Forty minutes each day are kept aside for discussions. The first five minutes are set aside for mindfulness, to help students build focus.
School students will also be given seed money of Rs 1,000 each for the selected projects proposed by them.
