Likening the university teachers to elephants, BJP leader Ram Madhav on Friday said the reforms in higher education will take some time as the teachers themselves, like elephants, cannot be easily maneuvered.
Addressing a gathering of Delhi University teachers on the theme 'Vision India-New India' here, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national general secretary said it will take time to bring changes in the Indian education system because of the defects ailing it for a long time.
"I know professors who do not even know how to operate a mobile phone... You (the teachers) are like elephants. An elephant cannot make an about-turn... You have to be gradually goaded into the right direction as one would do with an elephant," Madhav said, replying to a teacher's question on why the country still did not have world class universities.
He, however, added the entire education system cannot be written off as a failure and cited the IISc Bangalore and IITs' success, which recently figured in the QS world rankings for the Brics nations.
He said complacency, which became a part of the Indian populace after Independence, is now going away because the incumbent government wants citizens as stakeholders in its growth story and not as passive actors.
"After Independence, (Jawaharlal) Nehru was of the view the people should now enjoy the fruits of their struggle and let the ministers and politicians do the work... Our people always talked about their right only... but now we want them to become stakeholders," he said.
Replying to the opposition's recurring charge of lack of employment, Madhav said the problem of unemployment was not as grave as they say, otherwise "people will be out on the roads".
He, however, conceded that there was "stress" in the job market.
--IANS
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