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IIM Indore’s IPM-SAC in collaboration with AIESEC-Indore Chapter organized one of the largest youth events of the region, The Indore Youth Speak Forum on September 20, 2015. With an aim to provide a platform for the youth to speak up & voice their opinion and help them connect with the future leader, the event brought together top leaders and businessmen to interact with the youngsters. The forum was centered on the theme ‘Shape Education Today, To Shape the Future Tomorrow’.
The programme commenced with the lamp lightening ceremony and a welcome speech by IIM Indore’s IPM Students- Shivam Arya and Shilpika Ganeriwala.
The main speakers of the event were Mr. Parikipandla Narahari, District Collector-Indore, Mr. Siddharth Rajhans, Product Manager at Apple and Founder Spacify and Dr. Sumer Bahadur Singh, Principal, Daly College.
Mr. P. Narahari, while addressing the gathering full of young students from the Institute and other colleges around the city discussed about the environmental perspective affecting education. Mentioning figures related to enrolment in schools, he said that 58% students enrolled in pre-primary, 93% in primary, 69% in secondary and 25% in higher secondary education in the year 2011. ‘These figures speak that enrolment has definitely increased in the past few years, but our major concern is the drop-out rate’, he said. While discussing about various government schemes like Sarv Shiksha Abhiyaan, Mid-Day Meal, Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009, Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyaan and Rashtriya Ucchtar Shiksha Abhiyaan Mr. Narahari noted that admissions in government schools have also increased. However, we lack at the Pupil-Teacher ratio even now, which should be 35:1. But according to a survey, 25% of the teachers are absent all the time at any government school.
Mr. Narahari mentioned that only one out of five graduates get good jobs due to lack of skills. He said that in today’s scenario, having a degree alone doesn’t counts till you have had some specific Vocational Training. Students, instead of gaining knowledge are now focusing on cracking an entrance exam. ‘The changes we are bringing now in the academic sector and education, if had been brought right after independence, Indian Education System would have been at the topmost place by now’, Mr. Narahari concluded.
This was followed by a speech by Mr. Siddharth Rajhans, who asked the youngsters to stick on to what they are doing the best. Comparing entrepreneurship and schooling, he said that one should learn a lot at school instead on focusing on scoring high marks. Entrepreneurship is meant for scoring. ‘For me, entrepreneurship is just like innovation. If you replicate or duplicate something that already exists, it is not innovation and hence your business might not work for long’, he said.
He concluded his speech mentioning that any business needs to be related to a social cause to become a success. Think new and work on something new. ‘Build your own dream and work on it, else someone else would hire you to make you work on his dream’, he said.
Mr. Sumer Singh, sharing his personal experiences mentioned how various phases in his life made him learn. He said that education cannot be considered just literacy or scoring in academics. Education is the never ending accumulation of life-time experiences and it depends on how much you learn and grasp from a particular incidence. ‘India today needs its youngsters to help create a job rather than occupy a job. One should preserve and encourage the skills he/she has to increase the work efficiency in the country’, he concluded.
Mr. Shyam Zambre, clarifying the difference between information and knowledge mentioned that nothing can be taught, but everything can be learnt. ‘We would have the largest number of youth manpower by the end of 2020 and this would prove to be an opportunity for all’, he said. He advised the gathering to learn, utilize skills, be what you are and live with others while working in a team.
Later, a panel discussion on the topic ‘Education and Employment: Is the problem more grass root level or Lack of skill training’ was held, with Mr. Narhari, Mr. Singh and Mr. Rajhans and Mr. Zambre as the panelists who answered various questions by the students.
Simultaneously, five workshops were also held at the campus. These were Corporate Ready@Campus, which dealt with one’s skills as an entrepreneur and employability skills which could bring ideas to life. Another workshop was on the topic ‘Business Analysis’ focusing on analytical skills and its importance in all career aspects. Third workshop on Leadership Development discussed about skills of leadership to help climb the ladder of success.
The fourth workshop was about Transformation of Dreams into Reality, which discussed about developing skills that would help the youngsters become a responsible individual pursuing their dreams and a fifth workshop on Being Entreprenuer. This was followed by a few interns sharing their experiences with the gathering in Pecha Kucha Event, followed by a closing ceremony.
The entire event was appreciated by all the students who got to learn a lot about entrepreneurship and business.