Dr. Sridhar Shukla advocates for quality education at SEAP Star Awards in Pune

Pune, 24 April 2024: Everyone refers to Silicon Valley when speaking of advanced technology and the software development industry, however, people working in Silicon Valley choose Cupertino as their base as it offers access to the best quality education.

The quality of education offered by a place can make it an industrial hub.  Therefore, industrial organizations and industry chambers should take the initiative of building good quality educational institutions said Dr Sridhar Shukla, Co-founder of GS Lab and Co-founder and President of K Point Technologies, while accepting the Lifetime Achievement Award presented by Software Exporters Association of Pune (SEAP)

The second edition of SEAP Star Awards was held at Hotel Westin, Koregaon Park, Pune recently to mark its silver jubilee year. Dr. Shukla was honoured with a Puneri Pagadi and insignia at the hands of Dada Deshpande- Co-founder of Persistent Systems, Pune in the presence of Vinita Gera-SEAP President, Shivraj Sable-SEAP Vice President, Vidyadhar Purandare-SEAP Secretary, former SEAP President Prashant KS, Ramprasad S, Nitin Deshpande, Swapnil Deshpande, Parag Barve, Vrishali Kulkarni, and Ashutosh Parasnis amongst other dignitaries.

Dr Shukla said, “Today in terms of GDP, Pune is the fifth largest city in the country. Pune district has 7 thousand 300 schools; however, for Pune to progress further as an industrial hub, it needs to create a new identity as the district with the best schools.”

Today our country has more than 25 crore students and nearly 15 lakh schools. Out of this, 10 lakh schools are Government schools while 4 lakh schools are private. 85% of these schools are in rural areas and 15% are in urban areas and the need to cater to this is quality teaching. There are more than 1 crore teachers, and the number is fast rising however, there is a lack of focus on teaching as a profession and this needs to change to be able to address the shifting trend of parents preferring Private CBSE ICSC or International Board English medium schools over government schools. Children spend maximum time with their teachers, and as the building blocks of our society there is a need to increase the focus on teaching as a profession”.

Concluding his speech Dr Shukla said, “In any organisation, when like-minded people come together with a common goal, success can be achieved quickly.”

Dada Deshpande elaborated on the various factors that helped establish Persistent Systems and SEAP

SEAP Star Awards were also presented to Harbinger Group for ‘Best DEIB Practices’, Clairvoyant India and Evolent Health International for ‘Making a Difference in People Practices’, Cytel Statistical Software and Services Pvt. Ltd. for ‘Best Technology and Innovations Practices’ in Large Business category while Rubiscape won it in the Emerging Business category. Privacera was honoured in the ‘Biggest Leap in AI’ category.
 Abhijit Atre, Member of the Executive Committee of SEAP presented the vote of thanks.