'Rat race to extinction': Zoho's Sridhar Vembu says competitive exams creating zombified adults

Zoho founder and CEO Sridhar Vembu called out the competitive exam pressure India, saying that it 'destroys talent and creates zombified adults'.

"It is a rat race to extinction," Vembu posted on X, reacting to an advertisement by leading educational Institute FIITJEE that criticised a student for scoring low marks in the competitive exam. 

The advertisement claimed the girl scored less because she "left FIITJEE to join another institute".

“India has to get out of this ultra-competitive exam pressure on children and young adults,” Sridhar said, stressing on a renewed mindset for parents.

The advertisement was flagged by Katyayani Sanjay Bhatia, Deputy Commissioner, IRS.

"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 competition is for companies serving a market and for sports, not for children in education," Vembu posted. 

"As an employer, we have pledged to not even consider academic credentials. We are also investing in educational alternatives that are inspired by Finland".

The Zoho co-founder's post had X divided. "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.

"Sir, in India 25 lakh students are competing for roughly 55,000 govt medical seats while private medical courses are unaffordable for not even for families in the top 2 percentile in terms of earning. How is this competition going to go away?," another user said.