Teachers Must Break Mental Barriers to Drive Innovation and Build Viksit Bharat 2047: Dr. Pankaj Gupta

Greater Noida News (07 September 2026): The evolving role of teachers, the impact of artificial intelligence on education, the growing contribution of private universities, public-private partnerships in research and the long-term development of Greater Noida’s Knowledge Park emerged as key issues at the Bharat Shiksha Expo Initiative – Senior Educationists’ Round-Table, held on the occasion of Teachers’ Day 2026.

Organised by India Expo Mart & Centre in association with TEN NEWS NETWORK, the high-level dialogue was held on the theme “Teachers as Catalysts for a Developed India” and brought together senior educationists and institutional leaders to deliberate on the future of India’s education and knowledge ecosystem.

Speaking during the round-table, Dr. Pankaj Gupta, Executive Director (CSEM), O.P. Jindal Global University, underlined the transformative power of teachers and stressed the need to break mental barriers that often prevent students and institutions from attempting difficult challenges.

Recalling the famous story of mathematician George Dantzig and Professor Jerzy Neyman, Dr. Gupta said the incident demonstrated how a teacher’s environment and a student’s mindset can completely change the outcome of a seemingly impossible challenge. In 1939, at the University of California, Berkeley, Professor Jerzy Neyman was teaching statistics. One of his students was George Dantzig, who later became known as the father of linear programming and operations research, Dr. Gupta said.

He explained that Dantzig arrived late to one of Professor Neyman’s classes and found two difficult statistical problems written on the board.

According to Dr. Gupta, Professor Neyman was astonished because the two problems were not ordinary assignments but longstanding unsolved problems in statistics. Neyman told him that these were problems that had remained unsolved for years and that nobody had been able to solve them. They had only been written on the board to explain the subject, Dr. Gupta recalled.

The incident, he said, offered an important lesson about the psychological barriers that can limit human potential.

Dantzig realised that coming late had actually worked in his favour. Had he arrived earlier and known that these were unsolved problems, he might have developed a mental block and never attempted them. Because he believed they were an assignment, he simply tried to solve them, he said.

Dr. Gupta added that Professor Neyman subsequently encouraged Dantzig to develop the solutions into a thesis, eventually paving the way for his doctoral work.

“This is the kind of mental block that we need to move away from. Teachers must create an environment where students are encouraged to attempt what may initially appear impossible,” Dr. Gupta said.

Linking the story with India’s development journey, Dr. Gupta expressed optimism that the country could achieve the vision of a developed India ahead of the Viksit Bharat 2047 target. When Professor Vivek said that we might become developed even before 2047, I felt extremely happy. May Goddess Saraswati reside on his lips and may his words come true, he said.

He recalled how India’s scientific and technological ambitions were once viewed with scepticism internationally, particularly during the development of the country’s atomic research and space programmes. We had already taken the first step in 1947, and since then we have been moving forward step by step. When we were building the Atomic Research Centre, people in Western countries questioned how India could develop nuclear capabilities when it was still struggling with basic needs, Dr. Gupta said.

Similarly, when ISRO was established, there were questions about how a country that did not even have adequate aircraft could aspire to reach space. But look at India today. Those small steps taken at that time have transformed the country, he added. Dr. Gupta emphasised that behind several of India’s transformational achievements were teachers and scientific mentors who nurtured talent, encouraged experimentation and helped build institutions.

Explaining the theme of the round-table through an academic framework, he said “Developed India” could be viewed as the dependent variable, while teachers represented one of the critical independent variables. In the topic ‘Teachers as Catalysts for Developed India’, the dependent variable is Developed India, while teachers are one of the important independent variables. There are many factors on which a developed India depends, but teachers are certainly one of them, Dr. Gupta said.

He further identified educational infrastructure, implementation of the National Education Policy, resource allocation and digital accessibility as important moderating factors influencing the effectiveness of teachers and the wider education ecosystem.

Educational infrastructure, NEP implementation, resource allocation and digital accessibility are among the factors that can strengthen the impact of teachers. The teacher is the catalyst, but the ecosystem must also support that catalyst, he said. Dr. Gupta stressed that India’s development would require sustained investment in education, research, technology and human capital, while teachers would remain central to translating these resources into innovation and social progress.

The Round-Table was presided over by Dr. H. Chaturvedi, Pro-Chancellor, IILM University, Greater Noida, and Sudeep Sarcar, CEO, India Expo Mart, and attended by distinguished senior educationists and institutional leaders from leading universities, colleges and schools.

Those participating included Dr. K. Mallikharjuna Babu, Galgotias University; Prof. Sibaram Khara, Sharda University, Greater Noida; Brig. Dr. Rakesh Gupta, GIMS, Greater Noida; Ms. Kanchan Kumari, Delhi World Public School, Knowledge Park; Dr. R. S. Rai, Bennett University; Dr. Pankaj Gupta, O.P. Jindal Global University, Hisar; Dr. Abhilasha Gautam, Army Institute of Education; and Ujjawal Pratap, Galgotias University; Prof. Vivek Kumar, Amity University, Noida; Gajanan Mali, Founder Ten News Network among others.

The participation of senior academic leaders provided a diverse perspective on the role of teachers, higher education, research, innovation and public-private collaboration in advancing India’s development agenda.

The discussions reinforced a central message of the Bharat Shiksha initiative: India’s journey towards becoming a developed nation will depend not only on expanding access to education, but also on improving quality, strengthening research, empowering teachers and ensuring that technology-driven transformation reaches every layer of the education system.

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