“Brilliant.” Ask any dean of the world’s most reputed colleges, ask the CEOs of the world’s cutting edge organizations, and that’s how Indian students are often described, thanks to a culture that believes that educated minds are the greatest assets of the society.

We have been blessed with the ability to back the expectations heaped upon us. Our students have grown up to become the brains behind the significant technological progress made by mankind and delivered much of the goods in the past 20 years.

The world we are in is changing at an accelerating pace. While academic excellence is at the core of our teaching; as the world transitions, there are going to be further demands made on our children. No one can put a finger on the demands time will make in, say, 2040 when our children will be putting their learnings to work. What the world will need then is leadership. Be it in Politics or Spirituality, the Sciences, the Arts or in the world of Business, the real change makers of tomorrow will be those who can take risks and dare to ask the right questions, and come up with solutions for the collective good.

There is no greater potential pool of candidates who will rise to the demands made than among the 1.3 billion of us. As parents and educators, we need to prepare our children to become the leaders of the era that is fast approaching. We will need to unlearn the impact of 500 years of invasions into our country and believe we can be leaders.

But leaders aren’t made overnight. Passing examinations can’t prepare you to be one. It is a journey that begins at the age when a child is just learning to walk. Leadership needs nurturing. It needs an environment conducive to developing the latent traits of leadership. The future of the world will be determined by how we impart education to our future leaders.

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