PUNE: “It’s time to give up the colonial mindset and education, and draw inspiration from our history and culture. All universities in the country must strive to promote quality of education,” said Vice-President of India Venkaiah Naidu. He was speaking at the 16th convocation ceremony of Symbiosis International (Deemed) University at Lavale on Sunday.
Naidu added, “It’s necessary that our history needs to be told to the next generation. They should be able to draw inspiration from the history. Our own culture and history must be part of our education system. We need to preserve, protect, promote and propagate our culture.”
Need to improve education system
Emphasising on the need to improve the quality of education, Naidu added, “We have to again make India a Vishwa Guru. It was sad to note that no Indian university could find a place among the top 300 universities in this year’s Time World University Ranking. We need to strategise how Indian universities can rank among the top 100 and then in top 50 in the world.”
He added, “Universities must invest in research facilities and innovation centres. There should be a multidisciplinary approach in higher education so that students’ knowledge may not be restricted only to his own subjects. Curricula must be upgraded often to prove relevant to future job needs and industry-academia linkages must be reinforced. Entrepreneurship needs to be nurtured and incubation cells set up for this purpose. Our students must be encouraged to think beyond safe jobs.”
He hoped that the students will pass out not just with their degrees but with the eternal values in the heart to serve humanity. “Only political bills would not bring about a change in the society. Nirbhaya Act could not make a difference. Changing the mindset of the people is the need of the hour,” he said.
