Software icon N R Narayana Murthy today condemned the tendency of students in resorting to rote with the sole aim of passing the examinations rather than attempting to learn and acquire knowledge.
"We have not leveraged the power of education. Our engineers have become people who learn by rote (a learning technique which focuses on memorisation), pass the examination and they are incapable of making a difference to the society," he said.
Speaking at the inaugural function for first year BE/B.Arch classes at BMS College of Engineering here, the Chief Mentor of Infosys Technologies said the focus of students should not be on exams but on learning.
Recalling an interacting with three new employees of Infosys, he said he asked the computer science graduates a fundamental and basic question to which they replied they had "forgotten it all" since the exams got over.
"I was stunned by their answer," he said. "Please be disciplined. Don't bunk classes...As a student, I attended every one of my classes," Murthy told the students. He said he has the "dubious distinction" of having been the only student who attended classes when there was a strike by the entire college.
"The reason was very simple. My father was a teacher and I know that if I respected my father, I have to respect every other teacher and if I have to respect a teacher, then I have to go and sit in the class," Murthy said.
"I can assure you that it has served me very well," he said.