How a tweak in education can create a global impact! | Ram Kumar | TEDxSKCET
hello friends so very good afternoon we are just transitioning from the morning to the afternoon which means there is a lot of change happening and it's also a time close to lunch so let me start the day with the first a confession oh it's working okay excuse me yeah okay so the topic which was given form to me today was to make what is it week which we can make in this education system which can create a global impact so usually when people introduce me they say that our being working with the United Nations on few projects and then I've started few initiatives but all this is looking good but actually when people next slide please yeah so this is what people think which I am doing which is what is noticed but what is unnoticed is this next slide yeah next yeah so this is what the most MBAs do so I did my MBA in UK and this is what we do during the weekends so it was not my day job but was the conservation do during the weekend where we really learnt a lot so which means that every small thing which we do goes on to a bigger impact so I'm going to talk about the journey how bringing all these small things together made me helped me to develop a social enterprise which is now a partner with the United Nations which helps students to get involved in social impact projects and also develop their skills so it all starts from the personal pain point it's next slide yeah so yeah y'all know about MBAs I'm not talking about those MBAs but there are this MBA is called as the middle bench activists who don't belong to the first bench who are very studious and good guys but who does also doesn't belong to the last ventures who are notorious and mischievous there are these middle bench guys who don't you know fit into the both the sites who really struggle a lot in life and I was one of those so this was how my life was looking like why I'm saying this yes in Tamil they say body Caperton are not a body but it was like I was one such maybe as student who was good maybe outside the class I was an outstanding student which means I did a lot of things outside the class but maybe not inside so yeah so this is what was happening I was the college magazine editor I did a lot of things but somehow I lost my placement and you know how things how people look at you when you don't get placed as per the norms you know when you are not fitting into the norms all these things were happening especially you have four people coming into a house and they ask what next because in India there are only four jobs right there are only four four options which people give to the children you know what are those four options doctor yeah next yeah what is the third one another doctor and another engineer so these are the four choices so that was my scenario so wait wait this is the crucial slide we'll come back to that so that was my scenario and of course things went on well and of course I was I was called back to the college to be the consultant and I was also managing a software training and development center so things all were going good but something happened you know a whole tastic change whether positive or negative happens when something like this happened so there was a girl in my life so I think now the talk is getting interested so but yeah I'll go ahead so this girl asked me some very interesting questions which I didn't have an answer I couldn't say yes or no so can you guess what those question would be any guesses when he guess someone asked a question and you can't say either a yes or a No yeah I'm hearing some answers yeah this was the question she asked me yeah it was a Sunday afternoon guys and she asked me are you free and then she assumed okay and then say that small and Erik Anika never died perpendicular okay because she was involved in a very important project and she was doing a lot of things and it was a Sunday afternoon I was happily watching TV and she was asking all these questions now you would guess who this girl would be any idea that was my sister yeah so sorry for breaking the suspense only sisters have such courage and they make all assumptions and she directly dodges the complaint to the mom saying he is his idol only he's not doing anything he can do he can help me out so this was a very very tough moment for me so now I had only two choices one is to go out and help which brothers normally don't do and other one the self respected come me but anyway I helped another choices if I am also busy like her then things will be good so she was doing a project about social responsibility of student so she got a group of students who were solving some of the social problems which means they go out on Sundays they visit a place and they clean the place they plant some peace uplink they do all these kind of things and I was doing what a while I was a student but this time I was not doing all such things so then when she asked such questions I too started it and I started similar project in the company I was working for and then we went on well and in the process I noticed something very different so we were involved in social impact projects but while we were doing all these things our profits were increasing that's where I found yes we have all these corporate social responsibility laws and other things but that's where I found if we are doing something back to the society it is coming back at a greater level so that was one starting point to do something beyond the comfort zone so next yeah next slide please yes so this led to the next process next to us I got selected for a UN conference I think it was in 2012 to make an action plan for Millennium Development Goals so till 22,000 to 2015 United Nation has this program called Millennium Development Goals called as MDGs and after that now with the sustainable development goals and I was selected for this conference but somehow I could not attend because of some Ibiza issues and that is that I thought why not team make up make up plan make a project which will link all these local actions with United Nations global goals because if we want to achieve global impact action should happen locally and that is where we started a small project that we will make students get involved in social impact projects and then solve social issues so next slide so when I started this project it was a small team almost with zero four zero funds and but anyway we wanted to organize the conference and I was supposed to travel to UK on that Saturday and then we were organizing the conference the week before and everything was fine just two days before the conference the venue was canceled so how would you feel like that guys if you are organizing a TED conference and college is not giving the venue so it was that moment and that is there I was on the road I shouted very loudly very clearly saying that I am NOT a dead fish to sail along the way I am a live fish I will reach the destiny however and that evening we had a very small quick team meeting and we said we will however organize the conference we will spend our own money we will get sponsors and things turned well one of my friend wanted to wanted to start his retail brand in that in our own city and then he sponsored and we got some money and it it and it happened so this led to the formation of this small project called uni glow which links grassroots projects with you and goals now that is not the story no yeah annex yeah so this is what happened and I went back yeah next slide yes so now this is where I realized that there is a lot of potential which every student within every student and if alone we provide a platform to implement that then we can see a great change yes next so that is where we started with this process we call that as champions for change that we will train students on UN global goals and we will train them on management tools and then these management tools will be used to create social impact like Toyota calls this Toyota calls it as Toyota business process model so why not we come with a social business process model so that is that this come this this project came up but it was a real tough game in UK because in UK we have 130 other activities which students can get involved beyond curriculum but still things float up you are next yeah yeah and that is where already I had a different journey in my previous life in India but when I finished my MBA in UK again this somehow made me a social entrepreneur because the university was not quiet they were pondering on this plan and they asked me to make a business plan out of it and then they asked me to present it so you know what after MBA if you get a job then you are happy but if you become a social entrepreneur you are still happy but you might not know what when you are going to get your next penny it is a real challenge but that is where the road less taken let me to a lot of places and this is the code which I want to come what is that week we have to bring into the education system which can identify so many other MBAs out there by Mb I mean the middle bench activist out there the students will have so much of talents out there how can we make that happen so this is just one case so now with this one we can replicate and scale and that is what led to several other things so even now like there are a lot of students here who are doing a lot of activities beyond curriculum beyond academics and sometimes we don't realize the value of it but it fazed a lot and it comes a long way in our life so this is what happened to me so yeah that is me clearing the pond and this project led to the other things and next time we had a very clear selection process and we had a very good team in UK but also it helped me in a lot of other things one of my goal was to just to give a presentation in the international quality circle conference in London but they ended up being the keynote speaker just because I made this initiative so on also yeah next next slide yeah so this is a very standard process in University of Leicester UK now we wanted to get it scaled in Indian organizations as well yes next I had a dream to watch a TED talk life but this happened yes next so I had a dream to visit United Nation but just because I was getting involved in these projects I got to be selected as a delegate to be a part of the United Nations world program for youth in prioritizing youth in post-2015 development yes next so this is what happened so the moral of the story is they are next so the moral of the story is that is someone of so many so much of other guys out there who are going unnoticed so this is what we want to bring so if alone we have a proper platform because the motive of education is not just to solve problems it's to create problem solvers business solves problem but education create problem solvers but how do we create this problem solvers of course all those theories will help us I'm not sure where I am using Porter's five forces which I learnt in my MBA but all the skills and activities which I learned during the process really helps and if we provide a platform for students to implement in a very small scale they will understand they can solve problems and it can if they can do it at a smaller level then they can do it at a larger level and this was the thought and of course when you have a good thought and of course people say it and I realized it when your thought is Noble and when there is a good vision nature will take care and nature will nurture things all will happen and things go beyond our capabilities then it happened so then Uniqlo had its own growth and it had its own partnership with the United Nations and we came up with a structured training program which will help students to get involved in this project and also replicate and scale because if you can solve a problem for ten people then you can solve it for thousand people but starting the it's the starting trouble we have but if he starts small then we can think big of course we can fail fast and scale quick and that is what is the whole idea about and we started it and the pilot went on well and it replication did happen and a good thing is we wanted to try it with courage in India and we started with one of the management schools in India in Madurai and their projects were also good and you can see them in United Nations newsletter so those unnoticed youth have been now UN noticed so that's the process and that's the prospect which we have in front office and now coming to what is that now coming to the moral of the story yeah so you all know these three great men so what is common in between all these three Wow that's a great answer which comes immediately but I don't want you to become dropouts that's yeah of course it's very common thing the thing is they really chase their passion and we also talk about entrepreneurship and it is not necessary that all of us should become entrepreneurs just to chase our dream entrepreneurship is a mindset wherever we are whatever we are doing if we have a purpose behind what we are doing and if we have a faith that we can create a change then we are there so no matter whatever obstacles come in front of us it's not going to it's not going to really shake us so you're next yes so I sum up with these three tweaks which we need in current education system the first is education system should be nourishing and it shouldn't be it should and it shouldn't be demanding and this is a large process but we can start very small if alone we can make students think analytically if a load makes students work on what they want then the future is going to be great so that's the first thing which I want to say and next is the academia has real world the academia wants us to learn the real world want us wants us to do and that is a good statistics which you all would know that is only seven percentage of people who are employable what happens to the risks maybe it's not it's that is not one one area to be blamed or sorted out it is the middle system and it is also our perseverance towards that so that is the gap between this the real world requirement and academia that is where we need to have students who are vision focused and who are ready to solve problems and the next thing is very very important very touching and personal to me in this technological world especially with all these opportunities available in the process of making a livelihood we lose out on next slide please yeah in the of making livelihood we lose out on life I came back home after a few years and only then I realized how sweet home is even simple things just being with your parents is so lovely and it is very important that we have life as a focus we earn a livelihood for life so it's important that we bring these two things together and then have a livelihood beyond our life and next and I'm almost coming to the the point which I want to say there are only two choices you can fill up the gap we can either be a history reader or history creator so if we choose to choose to chase your passion then we can be in the next area and I want to also take up this doctor columns speech on world peace that that is righteousness in heart that is beauty in character but that is beauty in character that is harmony in home then that is how many in home that is orderly nation when there is orderly nation there is peace in the world so everything starts from our own self the righteousness in heart so let's embrace that and also this is what we will experience when we are chasing our dream and taking the road which others don't take so that's the power in universe whether you believe it or not and if we focus it on the right way it will expand in all directions and we will be able to achieve we want and it will produce miraculous results so this might be like a coat for those who read and it will be an experience for those who do and finally I just want to conclude with this one thing which my mom thought I call it as mom's mantra so of course my mom helped me to study and help me in my different preparations until I was until I was age 9 till class 4 it was in class 4 she helped me to prepare for my elocution competition and she asked me to start like this I just put that in Tamil and that is the essence which I also want to leave away for today she asked me to start like this tombery tada compound reaper legal I will link them early my lyrical idol named the mint conjugal pondrá in rodent phylum avec le coup de Luna Alima little pondrá a satirical generative an actor take Karim coupie serum tall tqd here this is what she taught to me I didn't understand what maybe I just thought it is a good start but later I understood you know the Lotus lotus is attached to the pond it isn't dirty water but it is always detached and it has a purpose so that should be we should have harmony and we should have love with everyone but as well as we should be very clear in our aims which means that dirty water or whatever situation we are should not disturb us that was one thing and the last two things which I always take it as a success mantras Karan poopy and serum 30 so it is a way in which we wish in India but that's a secret inside kerim poopy is you know you coming in harmony we unite and becoming in harmony and Sarah Malthus humility so once that is harmony and humility there is no great challenge which we can't face and that is always victory beyond everything so with these words I would like to conclude saying let's unite for a glorious world and let's realize the diamonds which are hidden in every student coal and diamond and graphite are all the same components but diamond underwent the extreme pressure and it underwent the extreme process so that is why diamond is great and cold as a different character and we have diamonds hidden in each and in every student and every corner of the world and it is our goal it is our purpose to identify those diamonds and make a glorious great world thank you for the opportunity let's make the world glorious [Applause]