Education can teach skills, not mass-produce innovators

The report “Education system’s emphasis on tests discourages innovation: Experts” (April 8) indicates that the pursuit of scoring in examinations is not the way to produce innovators or equip them to be at the forefront of jobs of the future.

I wish to offer a different perspective on innovation. First, no educational system can actually create innovators; by its definition, most people are not innovative.

It is possible to discourage or stifle the rare people who have innovative minds, but it is not possible for an educational system to churn out innovators like a factory manufactures computers.

The innovation process is very much the innovator’s personal response to his observations and experiences in his environment. To take this process to a successful phase requires discipline, risk-taking, determination and faith.

But to begin with, innovators must have something in them that they must discover for themselves. This is not something an individual can be equipped with by any educational system. None of the modern innovators — for example, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg — achieved what they did because of the system which they went through.

What, then, should the educational system provide for students? If the majority do not have it in them to be innovators or designers of tomorrow’s jobs, they must at least be equipped to learn skills that are not around today.

State education must take care of this majority rather than restructure to be geared towards nurturing what will at best be a minority of innovators. What must be set right are the expectations imparted to pupils and families.

Scoring well in examinations does not guarantee a high income, and exams should no longer be tools for putting a value on people. Exams should instead be a form of feedback to the individual learners. Government bodies should take the lead to design and customise their hiring processes without relying on exam grades as the first hurdle for applicants.