TNR News Network
Dharamshala
Dr. Amrik Singh Thakur, Director of the Centre for Tibetan Studies at the Central University of Himachal Pradesh, has described the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill–2025 as a landmark initiative that could reposition India as a global knowledge leader and reclaim its civilizational identity as Vishwaguru.
Harnessing the Demographic Dividend
With 65% of India’s population under the age of 35, Dr. Thakur emphasized that the Bill, championed by Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of Viksit Bharat @2047, seeks to transform this youth dividend into a force for innovation and leadership. He noted that the Bill confronts a critical question: whether India will merely participate in the global economy or architect its future through education reform.
Education as Transformation, Not Transaction
Dr. Thakur criticized universities for becoming “certificate factories” focused on credentials rather than cultivating knowledge, ethics, and public good. The Bill, he said, disrupts this complacency by integrating knowledge, skills, and attitudes into holistic human development, aiming to produce citizens capable of critical thinking, ethical reasoning, technical mastery, and adaptive learning.
Skills, Competence, and Global Relevance
The Bill mandates technical skills, professional capabilities, digital fluency, and life skills across all educational pathways, building on the National Education Policy 2020. These competencies, Dr. Thakur argued, will determine whether India exports labor or innovation, and whether its youth serve global markets or create them.
Long-Term Reform Over Short-Term Spectacle
Highlighting the tendency of educational leadership to focus on visibility and immediate applause, Dr. Thakur said the Bill shifts emphasis to substantive reform and generational impact. Curriculum redesign, faculty development, and infrastructure investments, he noted, must be viewed as long-term civilizational investments rather than short-term political gains.
From Consumers to Creators of Knowledge
The Bill repositions Indian universities as knowledge creators through research mandates, innovation incentives, and industry collaboration. Success will be measured not by enrollment numbers but by patents filed, research published, startups incubated, and societal problems solved.
Ethics and Equity as Foundations
Dr. Thakur stressed that technical competence without ethical grounding produces “skilled mercenaries, not responsible citizens.” The Bill reinstates ethics as a curricular foundation, mandating value education, community engagement, and social responsibility metrics. It also democratizes excellence by ensuring quality standards across institutions, expanding scholarships for marginalized communities, and deploying digital infrastructure to deliver world-class content to remote areas.
Reforming Assessment Systems
The Bill overhauls assessment by shifting from rote memorization to competency-based evaluation, portfolio assessments, and graduate outcomes. By measuring critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and ethical reasoning alongside domain knowledge, it signals a move toward producing complete professionals.
The Vishwaguru Imperative
Dr. Thakur concluded that reclaiming India’s position as a global knowledge leader requires contemporary excellence to match ancient ambition. The Bill provides governance reforms, funding mechanisms, curriculum frameworks, and accountability systems to achieve this. With India’s demographic dividend set to expire within decades, he warned that mobilizing youth through education reform is urgent.
“The world watches. Our youth wait. History judges. Let us choose wisely,” Dr. Thakur said, underscoring the Bill’s role as strategic infrastructure for national capability and civilizational transformation.
