"We need to see a drastic change in our education system to compete with the world today", said Subhash Ghai- Filmmaker and Chairman of Whistling Woods International, a Film and Multimedia Institute, at the 18th National Conference of Central board of Secondary Education in Chennai. The event held on December 27th, was organized by the HRD ministry and attended by 600 school principals from various parts of India. Inaugurated by Prof Dinesh Singh, Vice chancellor of Delhi University and Cricket legend & former captain of the Indian Cricket team Shrikanth, who is also the current Chairman of the selection committee of BCCI.

Subhash Ghai's Whistling Woods has designed the course in Media Studies and Communication for the XIth and XIIth students of CBSE schools in India. This is being offered as an elective to students so they can improve their skill and the understanding of the art and craft of filmmaking and media studies. Prof. Dinesh Singh said in his bold statement, "Ramanuj, the great mathematician and Newton the great scientist, had no formal education but they were self-educated. It is the need of the hour to let our children grow at the school level and in universities, to endow them with better skills & develop them as thinkers than just burdening them with books and exams."

Shrikanth who has interestingly designed a learning methodology for Maths through the format of Cricket also commented on the present system of education in Schools and Universities and agreed, "Lots need to be changed. Let them study through hands, not through just reading".

Subhash Ghai expressed that "The Indian Education system is still largely memory based while in the West, the focus is on skill based education. This in itself makes a huge difference in helping our children meet the demands of today's competitive environment and help them excel as professional in their areas". He added, "India needs thinkers, designers, ideators than just job do-ers. According to a recent report USA registers 90 percent of patents while India does only 1 percent. Why?"

Whistling Woods being an Independent Media school emphasizes on high quality skill based education unlike the traditional universities that still follow older formats. "Today we need the new generation to excel as artistes and good story tellers" Ghai concluded.