New Delhi: The education system in the modern world has to be in sync with the new trends and needs of masses. It can no longer afford to create individuals who are only well versed in theory with no practical know how to create value for the society. In that context, the bioscience is an area where there are immense opportunities to create new products in health, environment, agriculture and much more.
If we begin by taking into consideration the situation in early 90s, the number of institutes offering the education in this field were less and the biotechnology industry was slowly taking off. The biotechnology education was limited mostly to the DBT controlled departments in the prominent universities. The later part of the century saw the private institutes taking the plunge. Most of these lacked infrastructure and the basic amenities required for even the simple lab experiments. But the hype about a bright career in biotechnology made the students to opt for the field. The biology students had to face a lot of peer pressure for moving into this field owing to the wrong notions created about the biotech while comparing it with IT industry.
The Indian researchers have been well appreciated globally for their calibre. But the fact that the translational research in India picked up late is a bitter truth that needs to be recognized and paid attention.