Implementation And Taking Mission To Last Mile Will Always Be The Key: Aloke Bajpai

We live in a time when access to education and information is being democratised. Today, we take violin classes, lego building classes or even gardening lessons by taking courses crafted by the masterminds through edtech apps, said the Group CEO and Co-founder of IXIGO, Aloke Bajpai.

Bajpai, however, said that this is enormously impacting lives at the bottom of the pyramid due to the digital divide that exists in the nation. 36 lakh Indian kids lacked access to the internet during the covid lockdown, and many did to have a computer device at home. Technology stands as an impediment to learning for the bottom and middle of the pyramid, leaving them outside the education system.   

As a Keynote Speaker at the event of BW Businessworld, “Making the Indian Republic Employable and Enterprising”, he spoke on how the industry-academia widening gap can be addressed, how hiring has changed over the years, what needs to be done to solve the burgeoning problem of unemployability in India and aspects of nurturing entrepreneurship at the grassroots. 

While discussing the significance of skill sets taught by the academic structure of India, Bajpai said, “Only learning hard skills like maths, science and engineering won’t be enough for success. In the near future, most of our problems will be solved by technology. In the technology industry, people know that AIs can use past knowledge in developing creative solutions to problems. At IXIGO, the AI chatbot Tara resolved 84% of the customer concerns raised in 2021, which has been trained over the years with customer interaction data. A large part of our data is now automated, using deep learning algorithms.”  

Recalling his business school days, Aloke Bajpai mentioned that negotiations and organisational classes taught at INSEAD were very impactful in advancing his career. He also opined that our education does not teach us to quit the premise behind things. This develops in us a mindset where we start taking binary positions in social media, after constant scrolling of infinite feeds. This results in us falling prey to whatever the algorithms of social media feed us. He added, “The real question is are these education institutions equipping the students with skill sets required in the industries, startups, real-world." 

With the advancement of technology, we also have to teach our kids that instant gratification is always not possible in life. Exposing children in schools and colleges to situations that did not go as per plan, and teaching them reactions to it is important. “Not everything in life is based on grades”, he said. It is also important to implement with patience and follow a mission till its last mile. In his concluding remark, Aloke Bajpai mentioned that people have to approach life with a diverse range of ideas, an open mindset and constantly pushing themselves to reach new milestones.