India, Oct. 10 -- Indian school students have a rich history of achieving excellent grades that land them admissions almost anywhere. But these grades are often accompanied by a gap in interpersonal skills, exposure and holistic development. This gap surfaces in unfamiliar classrooms, public speaking opportunities and interactions with students from different cultures. This reality holds true even at India's leading universities, just as it does abroad. The root cause is an education system that has long undervalued holistic growth alongside academic achievement. Traditional examinations almost singularly reward precision and memory, while global classrooms, whether in Delhi or Detroit, reward forming an opinion, defending it under pressure and accepting being wrong in front of strangers. Indian students are trained for 12 years to chase correct answers, leaving traits such as confidence, compassion and ingenuity relatively underdeveloped. Profile-building and holistic development are meant to nurture and improve these aspects and are as important as marks. Today, institutions worldwide, alongside their Indian counterparts, look beyond transcripts to assess how students think and what they believe in. Staying quiet in a seminar can be read as disengagement and cost students a lower final grade, regardless of where they study. Moreover, every group assignment carries the same lesson, regardless of the topic. Independent thought and self-reliance matter more than the deliverable itself. To fix this, Indian students must build these skills well before they need them, whether in another city or another country. Classrooms should encourage open disagreement in low-stakes settings, and students should pursue debates, essay clubs, internships and exchange programmes years in advance, building a well-rounded profile rather than a purely academic one. Educators and parents must motivate students to ask questions publicly rather than saving them for after-class conversations, and to treat feedback as information rather than judgement. Indian students often find situations that require initiative jarring. They rarely approach professors casually and are surprised when deadlines arrive without reminders. This doesn't mean they are underprepared. If anything, they are often more technically skilled than their global peers. What they need, whether at a global university or a leading Indian one, is a well-rounded profile built on confidence, clarity and the elimination of the fear of being wrong. HTC The author of this article is the CEO and partner at Silver Fern Education Consultants...