Students’ future is based on their choice of activities in their free time and the company of their friends, observes Dr. (Col.) A. Balasubramanian
‘There has been a kind of competition, with government after government, to downgrade education. Everybody speaks nice words such as ‘students should not have any pressure or tension,’ ‘there shouldn’t be any examination,’ and so on. As a result, basic education has got destroyed’
Dr. (Col.) A. Balasubramanian, Editor-In-Chief, Corporate Citizen and Founder President, Sri Balaji Society’s, notable journey from a dynamic Army Subedar to a visionary educationistDr. (Col.) A. Balasubramanian is the Founder President of Sri Balaji Society, Pune. He is a triple Post Graduate and a rare personality known for his creative approach and breaking new paths in the field of education. Born in a poor farmer’s family, he ran away from home to join an orphanage to complete his education up to High School. Later, he joined the Indian Army and served there for about 28 years and retired as a Subedar. During his service with the Army, he acquired three post-graduate degrees with flying colours. He is a classic example of courage, commitment and intimate relationship with the corporate world.
Dr. Balasubramanian is a trainer, consultant, and author of five books on management. He has more than 100 short stories and two novels to his credit. He was the first to conceive the idea of the first ever post graduate management institute in India exclusively for defence personnel and their dependents. He is the first Indian from the Armed Forces to be conferred the honorary rank of Colonel after retirement. Thus, he has many feathers in his cap and is known for his creative, successful and bold experiments in management education ventures.
Dr. Balasubramanian is an educationist who is clearly ahead of his time and has time and again demonstrated an uncanny ability to foresee the trends of the future within the education industry as well as in the corporate world. He has introduced many innovative ideas which many have become norms and styles of management education.
Dr. Balasubramanian is the founder of the prestigious Sri Balaji Society. He runs four prestigious management institutes namely Balaji Institute of Modern Management (BIMM), Balaji Institute of Telecom & Management (BITM), Balaji Institute of International Business (BIIB) and Balaji Institute of Management & HRD (BIMHRD).
The vision and mission statement of Dr. Balasubramanian is 'Problems are opportunities and be selfish'. The other colleges run by him are Balaji College of Arts, Science & Commerce (BCACS), Balaji Junior College of Arts, Commerce & Science (BJCACS) and Balaji Law College (BLC) providing education to undergraduate students. He is also the Executive Director of BIMM and Dean of BITM, BIIB and BIMHRD. As a genuine philanthropist, he has generously donated lakhs of rupees for educational purposes for which he was conferred an award in a recent All India conference.
Here are some thoughts he shares on the education sector:
India is a growth-oriented economy, a developing country, but when it comes to education we have destroyed it. There has been a kind of competition, with government after government, to downgrade education. Everybody speaks nice words such as ‘students should not have any pressure or tension,’ ‘there shouldn’t be any examination,’ and so on. As a result, basic education has got destroyed. After all, teachers are also human beings. Whether you go to school / college or not, whether you like examinations or not, your academic level should keep growing.
School education up to Std X is abysmal. Government schools, in particular, are in a pathetic state. For example, they say there is one teacher for five students and students are getting scholarships. But there is no accountability. Elementary and high school education is in a bad state. Both Congress and BJP governments are responsible for this.
The competency of students promoted to the next class is not measured. There are just examinations which you have to pass. There is no role for teachers. To pass or fail a student, a systematic method should be adopted. A student who gets 30 marks is promoted and a student who gets 0 marks is also promoted. Can you imagine a country where more than 90% of the students scored more than 90% marks in the Std XII board examinations? How can this happen?
Most of the schools are helping Std XII students to cheat so that the school can get a good percentage. This is the tragedy of the system. Ethical and moral values have been compromised. Discipline and evaluation methodology of students, have been compromised.
Let us talk about higher studies. For example, there is a case in Tamil Nadu where about 50,000 or 60,000 students failed. All of them applied for revaluation. Lo and behold, all of them got good marks and passed the exams. Thirty professors were arrested in this case. In Bihar, one girl who emerged the topper in the IAS selection was asked when was Gautam Buddha born; she wasn’t able to answer. She didn’t know English.
The government is not accountable. Schools are not accountable. What we see these days is that it has become a drama, a commercial activity. This is what we see these days.
In earlier times, there were gurus. They used to beat and scold us, but it was for our benefit. Not only teachers from the elementary section but even those from the higher classes used to do this. Now, that cannot be done; there is a total volte-face and change in the education system.
Fortunately, the current Union HRD minister Prakash Javadekar is focussing on this aspect. He has understood this. And therefore, a lot of reforms are taking place. He seems to be the first HRD minister who really cares to improve educational standards. He is taking very stringent action. But it will take some time to recover from all the damage that is done. But I am very happy to see the changes happening. His wife is also a professor. The right man has become our HRD minister. AICTE too has become more responsible. They say, ‘no going to court, we will come and talk’.
The Indian education system is in the ICU—Intensive Care Unit right now. The HRD minister is trying to take it out of it. The real challenge is to improve higher education. We give an LLB degree from our Balaji Law College, but the government says you cannot practice until you pass an eligibility test. That is innovation because otherwise they have no instrument to measure the quality of education in the college, whether it is a law college or a medical college. The government is trying; let us see what happens.
‘The education sector has to build careers. Nobody is studying for the sake of knowledge. Everybody wants a job. But are we preparing them for that? And if you want to get a job, then knowledge, skill and attitude are the important factors’
Sri Balaji Society, PuneI don’t want to get into the corporate definition of leadership. I am an educationist. I am surviving on the fees of the students. The students, therefore, are my masters. My students are my masters—I am their servants. I have to deliver because they pay me. Without them, no college can exist. So, I believe leadership in education should be service-oriented. The leader should be humble and should be dreaming about the future of the students because the parents have their faith in you. The parents want their children to grow.
The education sector has to build careers. Nobody is studying for the sake of knowledge. Everybody wants a job. But are we preparing them for that? And if you want to get a job, then knowledge, skill and attitude are the important factors. Knowledge is just onethird of the total portion. The rest of the two aspects are skill and attitude which are related to behaviour. Now, this behaviour is a by-product of how you can train a person.
Everybody comes with their own background. Can we bring them to the expected good level of behaviour? Sincerity, humility and growth-oriented analytical abilities have to be infused. Leadership is not about power. It is about making others empowered.
The army is the best democratic organisation in the country. People know that Army means discipline. In the Army, people give their lives for the country. Every day we see soldiers killed. Why should somebody give their life? Because they have been trained like that and are the real patriots. In the Army, any complaint or grievance is listened to, even at 6 am. Anybody can file any complaint. So there is discipline and a lifestyle. I enjoyed my army career. I also served in the war. War for us was like playing cricket. That mind-set was created in us. That was the success of our leadership.
Now, I’ve brought that disciplined system to the education sector. And to my surprise, students have been cooperative. For example, I do not give a weekly holiday but the students are not complaining. Now, I must proudly say that the youth of this country wants to do something. Students want to learn a lot of things. But the defaulters are the teachers and the professors and those people who are running colleges only for commercial reasons. It’s okay if you want money, but you cannot cheat the students. The main thing is to give the students the attention and make them give their best.
Commerce colleges in the country, at least in Maharashtra run for only four hours and Pune being an educational city, this concept will eventually spread all over India. So the students are taught for only four hours and are left idle for the rest of the 20 hours. Thus, at such a young age they can be spoilt with such a large leisure time. So who is spoiling the children? The college! The college should engage the students in some assignment or project so that they are occupied. Mental growth, knowledge growth, behavioural growth and interpersonal relationship growth is the need of the hour.
The government of Maharashtra recently gave an order to introduce the biometric system. But we still have corruption in colleges, and low attendance continues.
As far as becoming an honorary colonel, it happened this way. I am an innovator. I asked Dr. S.B.Majumdar why don’t we start an institute for military personnel, for all the forces personnel. He said, “We are civilians.
We have a government, we have the army. Why should we start it?” I said, “They aren’t starting, let’s start.” And it was his greatness that he asked me ‘Is that what you want?’ and I said just ‘yes’. So, he granted me that opportunity, and the army made me an honorary colonel.
‘Most of the schools are helping Std XII students to cheat so that the school can get a good percentage. This is the tragedy of the system. Ethical and Sri Balaji Society, Pune moral values have been compromised’
I was a poor farmer’s son. I had no one to support me. After joining the army I saw the world. I saw the officers and then looked at myself and tried to identify the difference. The difference was that they were well educated. It kept on haunting me. Then I thought that instead of expecting someone else to help me I should upgrade myself.
The army used to give two months holidays annually. I utilized those holidays and studied. For two years I never went home. When I finished my degree, I was offered the post of lecturer. Well, wherever I was, whatever I was doing I was the star, I was a disciplined soldier. Everyone liked me. In the army, I was the most liked person. I never compromised with work and they encouraged me.
Today, I am running so many colleges, all thanks to those degrees. Today’s youth wants to do a lot but we are not providing them with the facility. We are not providing them with the encouragement. That environment is not suitable for them. We are providing the required environment at Balaji. We don’t have farewell parties in Balaji. We have changed the lifestyle of the students. Everything in Balaji is transparent. Discipline, dedication, and determination are followed here.
It starts with our admission process. We go to every city so that they don’t need to come here and incur expense on their side. Of course, CMAT and CAT are part of the criteria. We address the students for one hour. We explain to them our rules and regulations. For example, they cannot expect a holiday from us. 95% attendance gives them attendance incentives marks. If they have 90% attendance they get campus placement. But if they only have 80%, they will only pass.
So, we linked the attendance system to the placement system. We not only say this but sign an agreement to this effect with the students and parents. They are educated graduates and we tell them the rules. Industries like manager-like qualities. 50% students in my colleges are engineers. Also, 50% of the seats are reserved for women. Students come to us for job placements. Hence, we ask them to follow our rules to achieve that. We tell them to be punctual, get dressed properly, have proper haircut, be respectful to the faculty, take notes and so on. So, if you pursue good practices, which student will oppose? They all love it.
Here students feel that there is something new happening which hasn’t happened in their school, high school or college. They understand that we are concerned about their future. The door of my room is never shut. Anybody can come in at any point in time. For me, it is a problem but I have to take this pain. If a student comes to me all the way, then he/she has some problem. If I listen to them their problem will be resolved.
In our commerce college, students call the lecturers, ‘didi-bhaiya’ (sister-brother). We introduced this culture by which we have reduced the distance between the faculty and the students. If the students want to achieve something in their life, they have to do something. For that something, you have to be very honest.
‘After joining the army I saw the world. I saw the officers and then looked at myself and tried to identify the difference. The difference was that they were well educated. It kept on haunting me. Then I thought that instead of expecting someone else to help me I should upgrade myself’
It’s simple! You produce gold and it will be sold. We enjoy cent per cent placements every year. Corporates expect certain qualities, including knowledge-based perfection in their course. The personality of the students depends on their behaviour. Everybody wants the right man for the right job. Our average salary package has been 6 lakhs per annum and the highest salary package has been 15 lakh per annum. About 150 students got more than 9 lakhs.
So, whatever training we give, it depends on the students as to how much knowledge they will grasp. There is no principle of equality when it comes to education. This difference will stay. But overall, everybody gets a job. In India, which is a goal-oriented country, we have lots of problems. Industries are there and job opportunities are there but only for the right attitude and right knowledge. Behaviour is the key factor.
The concept of time management is all nonsense. Nobody locks you for 24 hours. There is a set time for college and you have some time at your disposal. If you are goal-oriented, you will google or read books to get more knowledge. If you are a disinterested student maybe you will be watching movies frequently or visiting non-educational websites.
The success of students doesn’t depend on his/her attending the class because that time is the same for all. One faculty speaks and everyone else listens. The real challenge is how we engage them. It is the non-teaching class hours and the friends with whom students are moving around with, who decide their future. It is not the professors. If you are in good company, good friends, you will be sitting and discussing things related to your course or news headlines. That is why your friends will decide your future.
Today’s youth doesn’t sleep before 2 am. They are wasting time on their cellphones. If they are reading something on Wikipedia then that is understandable. So, again, it is not the institute that is responsible for the growth of the students. The institute is responsible for responsible and interested students. Otherwise, why does one student get Rs.15 lakh package and another get a mere Rs.6 lakh package?
The education sector has to keep itself updated. For example, telecom and analytics were in demand, so we started both the courses. We bought an ACP software and are teaching our students. So we are not here to give mere degrees. We are here to give the human resource the specific skills that the industry wants. They are not recruiters. When they have a requirement they will come and pick students up. They are not the public sector. They survive on shareholder money. There is a board of directors and shareholders who will question them.
A company is not owned by any XYZ; rather, it is owned by the shareholders. Shareholders have to be accountable. For that, you have to select the right man for the right job and at the right time so that they go on to produce wealth. My students are not going for jobs, they go to earn wealth and to manage technology. Running an Industry is all about making a profit. So everybody has to make money.
In our university, we have the right to add or delete anything from the course according to the demands of time and industry. Perhaps that is why we are able to do so well and that is why we have a lot of visiting faculty.
I am located in a place which has industries all around. People from the industry come and teach and bring the changes that are happening.
My goal includes how to stand up to the expectations of the students, parents and the industry. The ultimate accolade is when the students of my college refer others to study here. They refer their sisters and brothers to study here. We have gained the trust of the students and maintaining that trust is the goal of my life.
My goal is to produce contented students and that is a big challenge. I have to match their aspirations too. We have been successful so far. I have an excellent team of professors, directors and principals. We are a big team and our goal is to make sure that the students are okay. A student can come and argue with me and when he does so I feel that she/he has grown up. Now, they can be independent.
‘You produce gold and it will be sold. We are enjoying cent per cent placements every year. Corporates expect certain qualities, including knowledge-based perfection in their course. The personality of the students depends on their behaviour. Everybody wants the right man for the right job’
Finally, I think that we should stop blaming the students or the government. We should start blaming ourselves and take responsibility. Every faculty should do his/ her duty, from the nursery teacher to a college professor. Only then will this democratic country grow in the world.
Do you know that in central universities more than 70% of faculty positions are left vacant? Why? Education is not an attractive area. Why? Education is not paying well. Why? The government imposes a restriction on fees. So when there is no income, how can they pay the faculty? This is one of the basic reasons. In America, education is the first choice for pursuing a profession. In India, education is the last choice. Whoever doesn’t get a job anywhere else comes into the education sector. Such teachers will produce similar students.
(This article was originally published in collegedunia.com)
Dr (Col.) A. Balasubramanian
