The document discusses the critical issues facing India's education system, highlighted by its poor performance in the OECD's PISA assessment. It identifies problems such as inadequate infrastructure, a focus on information transfer rather than knowledge development, a slow pace of change due to conservative traditions, and insufficient budgetary allocations. The document advocates for leadership empowerment, proper teacher training, and innovative funding models to overcome these challenges and improve educational outcomes in India.

1. Leadership Strategies In Overcoming Educational Problems
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) conducts the
Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) for its members and partner nations
every three years. PISA is meant to assess the key knowledge and skills of 15-year-old students
in mathematics, science, and reading.
India last participated in the assessment in 2009 and ranked second to last, among the 73
countries. It would appear that India’s system of education, it would appear, is failing its
students. Most government-run public and private schools cannot equip their students with the
requisite knowledge and skills.
Problems and their Possible Solutions
The problems plaguing the education sector in India need to be solved if India is to achieve its
potential as a nation. The problems of the education sector in India and the leadership
strategies required to overcome them include:
Inadequate Infrastructure. A recent study revealed that in an overwhelming majority of
educational institutes in India do the complete set of RTE infrastructure study found that the
educational institutes lacked physical infrastructure such as an adequate number of prescribed
labs the prescribed quality, requisite facilities for girls students, poorly trained teachers, high
teacher ab multiple boards for primary/secondary education and regulatory authorities for
higher education create non-uniformity in the curriculum, mity in the challenging making it
difficult to track and maintain quality. The infrastructural problems can be overcome by
reorganisation of existing structures to manage education in India. Education in India needs to
be managed by a single designated authority at the central/state levels to monitor curriculum
and regulatory approvals. Also, newer leadership strategiesshould push for a greater, enabling
log, which will allow making up for some of the issues related to infrastructure and quality.

2. Approach to Education.In the current educational approach in India, education's thrust
remains focused on transferring information rather than on imparting knowledge. Teachers
end up pushing information to their students instead of helping them conceptualise the subject
and develop the power of analysis. At the level of higher education, it is observed that there is a
huge gap between the education imparted and the requirements of the students and the
industry. The graduates end up being ill-prepared for employment, requiring the industry to
invest time, money, and effort to make the graduates industry-ready. This problem can be
overcome through the proper training of teachers to equip them to deliver quality education
and prepare students for vocational employment. This will also require greater attention from
political and academic leaders on education and increased spending, as a share of GDP, by the
government.
Slow Pace of Change. The prevalent culture in Indian society is tradition-bound, veers toward
conservatism, and is resistant to change. Also, people in leadership positions on educational
boards and institutes are not sufficiently empowered to bring about change. This inherent
resistance to change can be overcome by promoting cutting-edge best practices in the
education sector more engagingly. This can be done by involving community and business
leaders in deciding education policy and co-opting the community/business leaders to
spearhead educational change initiatives. The problem of a lack of a sound strategy and
leadershipempowerment can be overcome by developing a framework for the professional
development of leaders. Appropriate training and executive and budgetary authority
delegation will enable leaders to execute the planned organisational strategy competently.
Inadequate Budgetary Allocation. India lags behind developed nations and even some
developing nations in the budgetary allocations for education. This has meant that in primary,
secondary, and higher education, the available funds are inadequate to meet even routine costs.
Budgetary constraints also preclude adopting and sustaining recognised best practices in
education or exploring and pursuing meaningful or scalable innovations. Leaders need to
evolve a more progressive education strategy that supports enhanced educational budgeting.
Newer and bolder strategies, such as the PPP model in education or other alternative modes of

3. certification, need to be considered. Public-private sourcing of funding and encouraging the
participation of the private sector in education are novel approaches to overcoming budgetary
constraints.
Policy Shortcomings. A general charge, levelled against how most sectors are run in
India, is that policymaking lags intent. This is true of the education sector too. Many of the
policies for the administration of the education sector are outdated. Consequently, the delivery
of education at all levels does not comply with global best practices, lags behind international
standards, and does not meet the requirements of either the learners or the industry. What is
required is the creation of a national-level cadre of people to manage and monitor educational
services. Also, a framework that mandates the periodic review and revision of the education
policy should be created. Such reviews and corrections should be reflective of the direction of
the evolution of society and the industry. Only then can education serve the needs of the
learners and the industry.
Conclusion
Paradoxically, despite its low PISA ranking and the many shortcomings in education, India is
viewed, globally, as an education powerhouse and a key source of talent, especially STEM
talent. This reputation is based, largely, on a few islands of academic excellence such as the
IITs, the IISc, the IIMs, the NITs, etc. Scratch this glossy surface and the picture, sadly, is rather
bleak.
What is required is the creation of a cadre of committed leaders with training through the best
executive leadership programs, to prepare them to design and implement the strategies
enumerated in this article. Committed leaders and sound strategies can be the surest
guarantors for bringing about improvements in the education system in India.
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