New Delhi, March 7 Rapid changes are occurring in the workplace today with the automation of routine tasks, and there is a need to focus on skills such as judgment, creativity, and ethical reasoning, former UGC Chairman M. Jagadesh Kumar said on Saturday.
Kumar made these comments during a discussion on "Knowledge as Power" at the two-day "Bharati Naari to Narayani: National Convention of Women Thought Leaders" organized by Rashtriya Sevika Samiti.
"Rapid changes are occurring in three areas. The first is knowledge. There is now a vast amount of information available to all of us. The challenge for us is how to transform this information into useful knowledge so that it will guide our judgment and actions. And this is only possible when our young people develop the ability to question, think critically, and explain what they observe," Kumar said.
"Another area where rapid changes are occurring is in the workplace. Because many routine tasks will be automated, we now need to focus on higher-order skills such as judgment, creativity, domain knowledge, ethical reasoning, and the ability to work in teams," he said.
Kumar, who has also previously served as JNU Vice Chancellor, noted that the third area where rapid changes are occurring is in the area of power.
"Today, only those countries that control computing, data, and models shape the markets, culture, and society. Therefore, the challenge for us is how to train and educate our young people, especially the women of our country, so that they develop the abilities to succeed," he said.
Kumar noted that the first challenge is to address the issue of dropouts from the schooling and higher education systems, and to ensure that more women and girls become part of our educational system.
"The second is how to design the curriculum to enable our students to become critical thinkers, doers, and dreamers, and this is where when we say education, it has to be holistic education; education is not just about getting degrees, it is about gaining competencies with evidence. So, how do you introduce skills and competencies as part of our educational system, and when we do all this by 2047, how do we make all our female students and women successful by 2047," he added.