Education system needs reorientation: Premji

BANGALORE: Wipro Chairman Azim Premji on Saturday stated that there was need for a fundamental reorientation of the education system in the country.Speaking at the the maiden edition of earthian awards 2011-12 that recognises efforts at environmental sustainability among the youth here on Saturday, he said, “It is fundamental to our education system that there is more focus on urban schools. There is need for a reorientation if a balanced look has to be achieved,” said Premji, adding that more competency in measurement of education standards was necessary.He was answering questions by school and college students on issues related to environmental awareness and general education. “I am not sure how much environmental awareness there is. The objective of earthian is to have environmental studies incorporated into school curriculum. It is important for greenery and sustainability. While some urban schools have it already, it should reach out to government schools,” he said. In its first edition, Wipro received over 1700 registrations from across the country. Five winners from school and college categories were selected and the winners were awarded a trophy, certificates and cash prize of Rs 3 lakh for colleges and `2 lakh for schools respectively. Rishi Valley School, Chittor district (Andhra Pradesh), one of the winning schools, presented a paper titled Water and the Valley about the water scarcity in the school environs. “The valley is drought-prone. We collected data from the last 20 years and compared it with the present situation. We also interviewed long-standing school staff. Owing to the dropping groundwater levels, we recommend effective use of rainwater harvesting,” said Aryaman Jal, a class 9 student, who was part of the 8-member team that worked on the paper. The winning schools include Prakriya Green Wisdom School - Bangalore, Rishi Valley School - Chittor District (Andhra Pradesh), Kendriya Vidyalaya - Delhi and  Sri Kumaran Children’s Home - Bangalore. The Winning colleges include Indian Institute of Management - Kozhikode, Indian Institute of Management - Bangalore and Indore, Indian School of Business - Hyderabad and Indian Institute of Technology - Kharagpur.