Pradeed came to fame as a ‘reverse quiz' master and his ability to successfully conduct quiz shows on stage and Indian television channels. He was on a 14-day visit to Saudi Arabia. He made these remarks about Indian expatriate students here, adding that students in India are “more like products manufactured in a factory”, after a felicitation ceremony organized by the Al-Huda Group of Schools in Riyadh, Friday. The occasion has also witnessed the launch of the “smartindia card”, promoted by the Government of India as part of an e-learning initiative for Indian students living within and outside India. Prince Khalid Bin Mansour Al-Saud, the guest of honor on the occasion, launched the smartindia card. T.P. Muhammad, CEO of Al-Huda Group of Schools in Saudi Arabia, principals of various international community schools in Riyadh and a huge parent community were among those present. “Here in Saudi Arabia, students are inspired by the principle in Islam that inculcates a craving to seek knowledge,” he said. He added that this would be the reason why such a high percentage of Muslim students participate in quiz shows. “Even in the shows I conducted back home in India, the majority of students applying to participate in the reverse quiz competition are Muslim,” Pradeep noted. He said the only problem for Indian students enrolled at schools affiliated to the New Delhi-based Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is the lack of an eco-friendly education system that has deprived the students of hands-on geographical and biological tours study the natural anatomy of plant or animal life. “Despite the lack of resources here, my assessment of Indian expatriate students is that they want to learn more; they are greedy for knowledge,” he said. During his visit, Pradeep conducted intensive tours of various schools in Jeddah, Dammam and Riyadh. He said that parents play an important role in nurturing the talent that their wards already possess. They should encourage this by spending more time with them on a daily basis and and trying to nurture overall development. “Indian parents can play a very constructive role by sharing more time with their wards. They (parents) should do more to discover what their wards want to do in life, which will be the key for his or her overall development,” he added. “The real responsibility of the parent community is not to impose their wishes on their wards and force them to pursue professional courses such as medicine or engineering but to discover a child's instinct as to what career he or she wants to pursue in life.” For Pradeep, the school management in CBSE-affiliated Indian schools here cannot be blamed for any shortcomings in academic results, because the education institutions are offering the most from the limited resources available to them. Speaking about the smartcard that was launched for students in Saudi Arabia, Pradeep said it would be a boon for Indian and students of other nationalities who would want to make most of their time while surfing the Internet. The smartindia card has many advantages, if you compare the difference of education between the private tuition offered by a teacher at his/her premises and the process of e-learning through smart card, he explained. “It is something that not only saves time but also helps to learn more at a lower cost.” Pradeep said the students are exposed to a large number of teachers for each subject available online and can clarify their doubts until they are completely satisfied. The smartcard India initiative has about 6,000 teachers, who are available online to questions that students ask by simply logging on to smartindia.net.in
