Entrepreneurship is a multi-faceted phenomenon. In simple words, we can define an entrepreneur as “an individual who establishes and manages a business venture for profit and growth by taking calculated risks.” Entrepreneurship is more than mere creation of business. It is a dynamic process of vision, change, and creation. It requires an application of energy and passion towards the creation and implementation of new ideas and creative solutions. Entrepreneurs are people who turn dreams into reality. They innovates products or services, which substantially increase the standard of living of the entire population.The wealth created by an entrepreneur insulates the economy from recession and helps strengthen local economy.
Entrepreneurial education can be defined in broad terms as the building of knowledge and developing skills for the purpose of entrepreneurship generally, as a part of recognized education programs at primary, secondary or tertiary-level educational institutions. An environment where entrepreneurship can prosper and where creative minds can try new ideas and empower others needs to be ensured. Education needs to address the development of skills required to create an entrepreneurial mindset and to prepare future leaders for solving more complex, interlinked and fast-changing problems. Education should be the priority of governments and the private sector and be seen as the fundamental mechanism for attaining sustainable economic development and societal progress.
Education needs to address the development of skills
“Don’t think about Entrepreneurship; Just do it !” & the action of doing can’t be learned in classrooms & books but the education system can nurture your mind for doing it right. Few years ago, entrepreneurial education in India was in stark contrast to the western countries, where the courses are well established and more practical. But now days it has grabbed a toehold in the country. The present entrepreneurial education in India just concentrates on courses which are similar to the general business courses.
A survey done by the Entrepreneurship Development Institute, India (EDII) in 2003 shows that young people are afraid to start their own business because they are not confident, not capable, and lack knowledge in starting a business. Many people have the opportunity to change jobs or become an entrepreneur if they are properly trained. The students in India are not confident with the traditional education they receive in the university. Entrepreneurial education is widely spread, has diverse forms and has a large number of stakeholders. The lack of a standard framework is a big challenge to the development of entrepreneurial education in India. High degree of dependence on government is another challenge before entrepreneurship education in India. Insufficient private-sector participation and lack of sustainable business models in the entrepreneurship education act as barriers to its development in India. Another important concern is about the marks & money. Our educational institutions has perfect training for gaining higher marks right from the school to graduation which results into “MARKgetting attitude!” No one is ready to compete in excellence of knowledge. This attitude makes students the professionals who are working just for a big package. Most people in India belong to the middle class. Surviving is becoming a tougher challenge every day. The safest visible path to a ‘decent’ life is to Study, Get into a ‘reputed’ college, Get placed in an MNC and get married! The path is so enticing that most people chuck everything else and join the race. This is made worse by the society that equates success to a person’s net worth. Entrepreneurship comes with massive risk that doesn’t guarantee anything. Getting into entrepreneurship today is about ‘making tons of money’. The day that outlook changes from ‘making tons of money’ to ‘providing jobs’ or ‘making life easier/better for a section of society’, I guess we’d see a few more entrepreneurs.
In 1990s, India exerted greater effort to promote and nurture entrepreneurship. During the recent past there has been a growing debate about how well educational systems especially B-schools prepare young management graduates for Entrepreneurship. In the present scenario this debate becomes even more relevant. There is a demand for education programs specifically designed to enhance students’ knowledge and experience in entrepreneurship. The contents and pedagogy have to be differentiated between entrepreneurship and traditional business courses.The 90s saw the entry of entrepreneurship education into technology and management institutions. Governmental effort oversaw the founding of an initiative to set up Science and Technology Parks (STEPs) and incubation centers at a few reputed technical institutions. Today, The Indian Start-up ecosystem is dreaming to be a Silicon Valley of Asia, Thanks to the rebellion and Jugaadu attitude of Indian Youth. Despite being suppressed by the social, political, economic, cultural and most importantly educational constraints they are not at all in a queue of becoming “Mark & Money generating machine”. Along with the all other factors, the different organizations in India are making a huge impact on development of Entrepreneurial eco-system. Organizations such as National Entrepreneurship Network (NEN), Mentoring pools like The indus Entrepreneur (TiE), Entrepreneurship Development Cells (Supported by DST, AICTE, UGC), Incubators at various institutions such as Technology Business Incubators (NSTEDB, at over 30 educational institutions), Engineering colleges (IITs, NITs, leading private colleges) and Management schools (IIMs, leading private schools) are taking responsibility to reach the “Silicon Valley Dream”. Indian Education System has a significant role to play in the growth of India as a nation because it has the breeding grounds for future entrepreneurs. It has the potential to develop not only winning personal qualities but also provide an opportunity to create employment for self and for others. Entrepreneurship, self-employment and enterprise creation provide a solution to the crises of both unemployment and under-employment. The Education system help in increasing knowledge base, by identifying opportunities, and by pointing out ways to overcome barriers imposed by ones environment. It has a definite role in enhancing entrepreneurship by enlarging the pool of entrepreneurs in society. Therefore, the Indian government should take appropriate measures to promote and develop entrepreneurial education in India.