Prof. Ambarish S. Vidyarthi, Vice Chancellor, Bikaner Technical University, Rajasthan, Emphasises on the Importance of Skill Development

 “You should go for the ethnic literacy because the workforce is very diverse,” says Prof. Ambarish S. Vidyarthi, Vice Chancellor, Bikaner Technical University, Rajasthan, in an Interview with Pratik Ghosh, Content Writer, ArdorComm Media Group at the ‘New Normal – Education Leadership Summit & Awards 2023’ #ELSANewDelhi #ELSAGurugram

How are you feeling to witness the New Normal Education Leadership Summit and Awards in Delhi?

It’s great, last time I was also the panellist and that was after the covid but this time the people are in a good mood and really working and the dynamism has been a little bit changed. So, in these new normal activities, we are discussing on improvising the Indian teaching learning and entire education how it could be a meaningful impact on society and societal development. So, I think this is a great effort and I am really grateful to ArdorComm Media and especially to Chandan Anand for taking this initiative.

As you know, the theme of our event is India Vision 2030. According to you, what should be the vision for the education sector?

I have a different approach. I am saying that the Indian education system, though it is Indian, it is made up of foreign culture. For example, we are doing agriculture, we are an agriculture-dominated state, but starting from ploughing to harvesting, we are not at all using our Indian traditional agriculture. So, there is a difference that whether we want to Indianize our own activities which we have been doing in earlier days where the people were not so much educated like the rishis and munis. They were doing it, for example, we were ploughing with the ‘hull’, especially, you know, that was basically not damaging the vermic cultures. Now what we are doing, we are using the tractors and other things which are devastating the field, and that’s why most of the land is going to be barren. So definitely, we have to think of this. People are saying that this is an education industry. What is about the industry? Whether our traditional system was saying like this? No, the teacher was testing a lot before accepting people. But now you can clear one exam and then come and you have not designed and that’s why the output is not coming. So, this is my view.

What according to you is the importance of skill development in this 21st-century workspace?

If you look at from the traditional or even the World Economic Forum, the half-life of technology has been reduced. Initially, it was 10 years, then it became six years, now it is two and a half years. So, it means that the advancement of technology would come into the place, then you require specific skills. So, there is a lot of pressure in the skill development and people have to acquire, irrespective of specialized ones, they should have basic, the foundation, like they should have literacy, financial literacy, numerical methods or statistics, then you have to have cultural literacy and then you should go for the ethnic literacy because the workforce is very diverse. And what happens, we are very good technocrats, but we fail to implement because we are working with different cultural and ethnic groups. And without understanding their viewpoint, their working style, you cannot take up the work very efficiently. So, that’s why these skills are essential. Then definitely, AI, blockchain, data security, data science, AR, VR, so those kinds of technologies are coming up and we have to judiciously use those ones. So, that’s the point.

Any message for ArdorComm Media on its 2^nd Anniversary?

Definitely, all the best to this Media Group, and we hope that more vibrant and frequent activities have to be conducted by your group. And you are really making an impact on the education system. So, thank you very much and all the best.