It is troubling that a private university attempted to present a purchased robot dog as an in-house creation during the high-profile AI Summit meant to showcase Indian innovation. The headlines have focused on the embarrassment, and now that the university has vacated its stall, most people seem ready to move on. That would be a mistake.
The biggest lesson we can learn from this episode is that parents should not be doing their children's student projects. The Galgotias University fiasco is a direct outcome of such parental behaviour.
Even when I was a child, I could tell at first glance that the intricately designed and perfectly painted project being submitted was not made by my six-year-old classmate. But I also witnessed how that project got the most adulation and marks. That year, an entire batch of six-year-olds learned that outputs are celebrated without interrogating effort.
All my student life, most of the student projects that got recognition were clearly made by parents or by expert vendors specialising in student projects. The students focused their efforts on learning to explain these projects to pass them off as their own. Instead of spending time building something with their own hands, failing at it, learning from that failure, and building some more, most students focused on memorising their pitch to ensure a great presentation.
Students focus on presentation because they know it matters much more than creation. Parents focus on polish because they know it gets rewarded much more than process.
While the Galgotias University's misrepresentations were discovered quickly this time, I don't believe that such instances are rare in India. In my own experience — and echoed by many others — most exhibitions and conventions that showcase or award student projects are filled with professionally built submissions. I am told it has become so common that professionals build and stage projects at the exhibition hall before judging begins — often under the supervision of parents, with the student whose name is on the submission nowhere in sight.
Galgotias University might have vacated the AI Summit, but we all need to reflect and answer a few simple questions — would we have applauded a clunky robot dog prototype that barely lifted its head? If that clunky prototype was the most advanced student-built robot in the country, would we display it with pride?
My answer is yes to both.
Because celebrating honest beginnings creates future excellence.
Student projects should first and foremost be judged on the learning that comes from genuine effort. Parents and institutions must get comfortable appreciating effort, even when projects fall short of their stated goals.
If we want institutions with integrity, we must first raise children who value building over impressing. And that begins at the dining table, not the AI Summit.