Zoho's Sridhar Vembu wants India to 'get out of this ultra-competitive exam pressure on children': 'Rat race to extinction'

Sridhar Vembu revealed that academic credentials were not the the be-all and end-all at Zoho and added that the company was investing in educational alternatives, which are inspired from Finland.

Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu on Sunday called for a renewed mindset and urged India's population to move away from putting "ultra-competitive exam pressure on children and young adults".

Replying to a FITJEE advertisement on X (formerly Twitter), Vembu said that applying high levels of pressure at a young age can kill talent and make "zombified adults" which, in turn, could lead to a "rat race to extinction".

"India has to get out of this ultra-competitive exam pressure on children and young adults. This is one area where I would *not* learn from East Asia but instead learn from Finland which has a superb state-funded educational system that serves every child without such competitive insanity."

"Intense pressure at a young age all too often destroys talent and creates zombified adults. It is the rat race to extinction," Vembu wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday.

India has to get out of this ultra-competitive exam pressure on children and young adults. This is one area where I would *not* learn from East Asia but instead learn from Finland which has a superb state-funded educational system that serves every child without such competitive… https://t.co/AjdkIl0Nmt

— Sridhar Vembu (@svembu) March 17, 2024

The Zoho founder's tweet saw a lot of user comments, while some gave their own reasons for the extreme levels of exam pressure on children and adults in India, others tried to offer a solution to decrease the pressure.

"All this is due to the fact that most of our parents before social media age didn't have vision beyond government exams or competitive exams. But as we grow old and become parents people will surely get more options to explore," one user wrote.

"The sooner we have vocational training at a junior level the better. Otherwise parents would continue to push their kids towards engineering or medical just because it's a promising Career with potentially lucrative salary," another user wrote.