Technology innovation – children’s education and future career options
Children’s day is celebrated on November 14th in India, in the honour of the respected Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s birthday, the first Prime minister of India. He showed great affection, fondness towards children and believed that they are the key to shape the future. Although in India it is celebrated on the 14th of November, globally, Children’s Day is celebrated on November 20th, when the United Nations first adopted the Declaration and Convention of the Rights of the Child. On this day, many schools, colleges and other public institutions celebrate by hosting cultural or academic programmes to inculcate important life values to the students. As Nehru once quoted, “The children of today will make the India of tomorrow. The way we bring them up will determine the future of the country.” This shows that all children must be given proper education and equal rights. However, this has not yet been fully accomplished. Many children in rural areas, even today, are uneducated simply because they do not have the resources. Instead, they work throughout the day along with their parents in laborious and tiresome jobs. Around the world, estimates show that there are more that 244 million children between the ages of 6 and 18 who do not go to school (2021 survey).
As a student myself, I believe that every child should get the opportunity to study and educate themselves, as it gives everyone the knowledge and the required skills to progress in life with confidence and become net positive contributors to the society. The two biggest challenges that we have today are (a) the lack of teachers and the necessary infrastructure in remote villages to promote school education and (b) to assess the different starting points of each child on a subject and custom / tailor the learning path / syllabus. Today, more than ever, we have the technology to solve both the problems. Generative AI has the power to assess individual competency level on each subject and recommend the best learning path / modules to learn for each and every individual child. Similarly, the proliferation of internet across the nook and corner of the country via 4G/5G, optical fibre wi-fi access and star link (satellite powered internet) gives us the power to reach the children and overcome the problem of lack of schools and teachers in remote villages. Government should seriously consider making internet available for free for every child as long as it is used for pure educational purposes at least for the children who cannot afford and are remotely located. Today, we have quality digital content by top teachers and institutions, both in India and the world, available at the click of the button and mostly free of charge. All that we need to do is to launch a campaign to spread the awareness and increase the usage of digital means to education and ensure every child acquires the necessary knowledge and skills to progress in life.
Today’s technology advancements on AI/ML and robotics mean that all mundane (repeatable tasks) work will be done by machines and computers in the future. We need to teach the children how to be creators and not just doers. We need children to learn how to code / program, become architects, learn to leverage technology in all domains, be it arts, life sciences, medicine, engineering, space technology, agriculture, manufacturing, pollution control, climate change etc. As an example, the use of AI in radiology scans has significantly improved ability to identify cancer early in patients that would have normally been missed by clinicians. Companies like PathAI are focusing solely on leveraging AI in pathology. Children today need to understand such technologies and apply them to various use cases in their chosen domain to solve problems and make this a better place to live.
Children all over the world have dreams, many of which are unfulfilled due to the lack of education. Hence, it is also very important that parents, local body governments and NGOs work together and help unlock the true potential in every child. In the long run, this will help not only children themselves, but also the global economy. Having more educated people translates to higher productivity in the economy. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act or Right to Education Act (RTE), is an Act of the Parliament of India enacted on 4 August 2009. Today we have the technology to truly make this a reality. Let us take a vow / oath today to help leverage technology and educate every child in our “vasudaika kutumbham – universal one global family”.
By Laasya Padmaraju
Class XI
Kanha Coaching Centre
Kanha Shantivanam
Hyderabad