India should spend $1 billion annually to train school teachers, says software icon Narayana Murthy

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Software icon N R Narayana Murthy on Wednesday called for spending USD one billion a year to train school teachers by 10,000 retired highly accomplished teachers from the developed world and from India in STEM areas (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) This course alone is not sufficient, Murthy said.

"We must show much respect and pay better salaries to our teachers and researchers. We must also provide better facilities to our researchers. We must honour them. They are role models for our youngsters. That is why we instituted the Infosys Prize in 2009. It is our small contribution to further the cause of research in India". he added.

One possible way of accelerating NEP's (National Education Policy) outcome is to invite 10,000 retired highly accomplished teachers from the developed world and from India in STEM areas to create 2,500 "Train the Teacher" colleges in the country's 28 states and eight union territories, Murthy said.

This training programme should be year-long, he said  in his remarks at a press conference here, where the Infosys Science Foundation announced the Infosys Prize 2023 in six categories.

"Experts tell me that each set of four trainers can train 100 primary school teachers and 100 secondary school teachers a year. We will be able to train 250,000 primary school teachers and 250,000 secondary school teachers every year by this method," the founder of Infosys said.

These trained Indian teachers can themselves become trainers over a period of five years.

"We should pay about USD 100,000 a year for each of these retired teachers. This twenty-year programme will cost us USD one billion a year and USD 20 billion for twenty years. Our nation, targeting a GDP of USD five trillion soon, will not find it a big financial burden," Murthy, who is the trustee of Infosys Science Foundation said.

If you think this is expensive, you may recall the words of Derek Bok, a former President of Harvard University, who said, "If you think education is expensive, try ignorance," he noted.

On whether the Infosys Science Foundation will be making a strong recommendation on teachers' training and spending towards it, amid increased allocations on freebies by some governments and cut in budget on science and R&D, Murthy said, he has made the suggestion with the spirit of betterment of the country, and there are experts who will evaluate it and decide.

"In an environment like India's there are always suggestions by various people, and I'm sure we have a set of experts who will evaluate those suggestions. And if it is found to be worthwhile, they may take it forward.

"Otherwise, it won't, that's natural. And therefore, I think all these suggestions should be welcomed, as long as it is given with the spirit of betterment of the country," he said.