New Delhi, July 30, 2020: Schools across the country are closed due to the Corona pandemic, but through online education, the learning process is still on in the government schools of Delhi. A live interaction session was held today for classes 9th to 12th on Entrepreneurship Mindset. In this session, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, and Businessman Arjun Malhotra participated and shared their experiences with children. They answered the queries raised by the Principal and students of the schools participating in the program. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said, “It is our endeavor that our education system should be such that our children become job-providers, instead of job-seekers*.”
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said,”This is my first program. In the last one and a half years, ever since this Entrepreneurship Mindset program started, a lot of eminent people have come to address the children, but I am attending this program for the first time. I was elated when I came to know that Shri Arjun Mehrotra is coming. I have a personal relationship with him. We are also from the same college, IIT Kharagpur. I feel proud that Mr. Arjun Mehrotra, my fellow IITian, has earned respect and has done such good work in the world of business.”
In Delhi schools, we are training children different ways of entrepreneurship so that children can become successful entrepreneurs: Arvind Kejriwal
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said, “We believe that the people of our country are very intelligent. We are full of ideas and have a brilliant entrepreneurship mindset. A rickshaw puller is also an entrepreneur, a paan-wala is also an entrepreneur; every citizen of this country knows how to run a business. But there is some problem with our education system. The moment we exit from our school, we start looking for jobs. We want to change this mindset. We want that while being in school, our students should start thinking in a direction where they do not have to find a job after leaving school, rather they should start thinking about their business propositions.” He told students, “You don’t have to be a job seeker, but you have to become a job provider. We want to inculcate this in the mindsets of children. This cannot be taught in theory. This is the reason, we call small, medium, and big entrepreneurs to take these sessions and inspire students.”
It is possible to do all the work in our mother tongue Hindi, but not feasible in today’s conditions- Arvind Kejriwal
A student asked that in Japan and China, all the work is done in their mother tongue. But why in India it is not done?
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal agreed with the student and said, “Yes, all work should be done in our mother tongue but we cannot ignore the current situation. The British left the country, but the British system continued. We did not even change the education system. The system that Macaulay built-in 1830 continues till date. There are few like Shri Arjun Malhotra who go against the system and create their unique identity. Otherwise, our system is such that we can only produce clerks. Secondly, today a child who knows English has a better chance of landing with a good job with global exposure. Therefore, it is not possible to change this system in a day and implement Hindi everywhere. But yes, if everyone tries together, it will surely happen one day. Today parents expect their children to speak fluent English. I hope there will be a day when the entire system will start working in our mother tongue Hindi.”
It is a skill to learn any other language, but we should be proud of mother tongue Hindi- Dy CM Manish Sisodia.
Deputy CM Manish Sisodia agreed with the student and said, “Yes, all work can be done in our mother tongue, but we cannot ignore the current situation. During the interaction, Sisodia said that after the Corona crisis subsides, a variety of new opportunities will arise in the field of entrepreneurship. Sisodia said that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Arjun Malhotra both did their engineering from IIT Kharagpur and both of them achieved great success in their life. He told students, “This is the right opportunity for all of you to learn entrepreneurship mindset from both of them.” Sisodia said, “Three years ago, CM and I interacted with a few IIT students. Most of them praised our work done in the field of Science and thanked us for their improved Science Labs. But at the same time, they requested us to emphasize more on English.” Sisodia said, “learning any language is a skill, but our mother tongue Hindi is our pride. We should not feel shy to speak in our mother tongue.”
Chief Guest Arjun Malhotra said, “behind any successful person is his value system. It is his value system that takes that person to different levels. Mr. Malhotra said, “I wanted to go to NASA and become a researcher after IIT. But since I got a job in DCM, I did not go. Later, we left our job to make computer microprocessors and formed our company. At that time, my uncle did not approve of my decision to leave the job but later when he saw me succeed, he became happy.”Malhotra said, “Parents are your well-wishers. This is the reason they stop you from taking risks. But if you have the passion for something, go for it. Try to understand your parent’s point of view. Everyone cannot understand your passion.”
Expressing gratitude to guest entrepreneur Arjun Malhotra, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal described his experiences as fruitful. Mr. Kejriwal said, “Mr. Malhotra’s experiences show that nothing is impossible. If you are determined towards something, then there is always a way out. During your entire interaction session, our students got to learn a lot of good things. We hope to call you at regular intervals to keep this interaction going.”
By Lipakshi Seedhar: