Mysuru: Infosys founder N.R. Narayana Murthy reposed faith in teachers to mould the new generation and said the future of India depended on teaching community more than any other category of professionals.

Interacting with students of Regional Institute of Education (RIE) in city recently, he said every child that receives a good education should be grateful to teachers. “But the kind of classroom teaching we have today is completely wrong because teachers are giving a monologue without any interaction. The students should be allowed to interact and discuss. When a student asks a question and raise doubts, all other students will start learning and there will be scope for development of ideas.”

“The teaching-learning process in India is a monologue by the teacher while curious students who posed questions were branded trouble-makers. Classrooms will remain important but should function as a medium of interaction with students initiating the transaction and teachers being the facilitators,” he said.

Murthy said teachers should strive for changes in syllabi so as to enhance curiosity,                      increase observational skills and problem-solving abilities of students.

On the issue of technology as a game-changer in teaching and learning in classrooms, Murthy said technology was a great enabler and enhanced productivity while reducing cost and time and cited examples such as the discovery of the wheel, printing press and telephone — all of which changed the world. “Technology has an extraordinary potential to bring the power of education from the entire world to your desktop,” he said.

In the question and answer session with students, Sahana, a student, asked him to share his experience and memories on preparing for IIT exams atop the Chamundi Hill, Narayana Murthy said, “For me, the main attraction of appearing for IIT exam in 1962 was going to Bengaluru. I had never seen Bengaluru, but my sister stayed there.”

He said there were no coaching institutes then and so he and his friends posed questions to one another and solved problems that they could not resolve individually. However, in contemporary times there are coaching institutes and they have ‘destroyed’ IITs, said Murthy.

To a question by Harshavardhan on students aspiring to be teachers, he said, “They should fight the authorities concerned to change the syllabus, include attributes so that it will enhance their curiosity, observation intensity and problem-solving mindset.”