Vikas Pota on Raising the Status of Teachers | Big Think

Vikas Pota on Raising the Status of Teachers

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If we want to get serious about improving the quality of education globally, we need to improve the professional status of teachers. In a new study by The Varkey GEMS Foundation offers nearly half a million data points that show us how to do that.

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Vikas became:

Vikas became the Varkey GEMS Foundation’s first CEO in September 2010 and currently serves on a number of global education panels. These include the Girls & Female education panel; the Teachers Task Force; and the Global Alliance of Corporate Partners for Education – all for UNESCO. He also led the development of the Global Education and Skills Forum and was selected as a ‘Young Global Leader’ by the World Economic Forum in 2013.

Previously, Vikas was the Managing Director of a corporate affairs & communications consultancy business in London. Prior to this, he established the directorate of an independent parliamentary group in the British Houses of Parliament. He also serves as Group Head of Corporate Affairs at GEMS Education.

As part of his commitment to charities, Vikas is associated with several mainstream causes and has advised & raised substantial funds for several groups and good causes. He is also a member of the founding team of a social action day, which seeks to promote volunteering & public service.

Vikas is the author of ‘India Inc: How India’s Top Ten Entrepreneurs Are Winning Globally’ . He is often asked to provide his commentary and insight into Indian business and political matters to the media. He writes a blog on globalization and India, and appears regularly on CNN, BBC News, BBC World TV and Al-Jazeera. He has commented in the Financial Times, the Guardian, the Observer, and The Independent on Sunday on issues ranging from the contentious subject of off-shoring and outsourcing, the impact of the Indian Elections on economic reforms, terrorist attacks such as those experienced in Mumbai in 2008 to the impact of David Cameron’s first Prime Ministerial visit to India.

In his book ‘India Inc: How India’s Top Ten Entrepreneurs Are Winning Globally‘, Vikas narrates the phenomenal journey’s of ten Indian entrepreneurs, many of whom have gone from being garage start ups to achieving stunning global success in their lifetimes. Through his book, he provides examples of how Indian entrepreneurs are taking on and beating their global competitors in their own back yards and argues that Indian sensibilities will increasingly shape business debates around the world.

He has advised some of the world’s leading firms that have invested billions of dollars in India. In addition to briefing CEOs, Ministers, Parliamentarians, and senior journalists on breaking developments in South Asia, he has taken part in discussions; authored submissions to influential Parliamentary Select Committees, and has delivered speeches to think tanks and the Trades Union Congress on critical subjects like the off-shoring and the globalisation of services.

Pota’s been recognised by substantive persons such as S. A. Hasan, Director of Tata Ltd ‘few stand out as influential or as passionate as Vikas Pota, in providing a fresh, new perspective to the subject of India Inc. going global.’ James Caan of BBC programme Dragons Den says Pota provides ‘An insightful and thought-provoking look’. He lives with his family in London, UK.

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TRANSCRIPT:

Vikas Pota: The challenge of the world today facing in education is primarily twofold. One is that we know that there is so many children who are out of school and the U.N. puts it about 57 million. But actually the bigger crisis that exists in education is the fact that, not that 57 million children are not in school, but the hundreds of millions who go to school but don't learn anything. So what our foundation has done is had a look at how we can create an impact. And because the birth of our foundation comes from an education company, we have decided to focus on the issue of global teacher capacity and improving the quality of teachers in the classroom.

So, for example, I was in Ghana just a few months ago where I spoke to a teacher at great length. And what she was saying to me was the reasons why I got into the profession was because teachers were held in high esteem in society. And it wasn't necessarily about pay, but it's all now become about pay.

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