Vice-President of India M. Venkaiah Naidu delivered the 32nd convocation address of the Indira Gandhi National Open University on Wednesday. Time has come for India to re-establish itself as a knowledge and innovation hub, Mr.Naidu said.
“Youngsters need to re-establish India as a knowledge and innovation hub and for that to happen, we have to completely overhaul our higher education system to cater to the fast changing requirements of the 21st Century in different sectors. Apart from remolding the syllabi and pedagogy, the stress should be on learning-by-doing,” Mr. Naidu said.
The Vice-President stressed on the need for students to continuously learn to remain competitive. “Your learning does not end with the acquisition of an educational degree. Learning is an ongoing process and you need to upgrade knowledge on a daily basis to face a highly competitive world,” Mr. Naidu told the students.
Speaking on the vital role played by IGNOU, Mr. Naidu said the varsity has made knowledge acquisition accessible to many learners, who otherwise were unable to attend regular institutes of higher learning.
The Vice-President said, “The root cause of the problem in private and government-funded institutions is commercialization and poor governance respectively. Higher education should transform an individual into a responsible human being with social, moral and ethical values embedded in him or her apart from making the person more productive.”
‘Quality assurance’
The quality assurance and accreditation mechanism should acknowledge the transformative role of education in a broader sense and facilitate in widening the horizons of the Indian higher education system, Mr. Naidu added.
IGNOU vice-chancellor Nageshwar Rao said, “The university is working dedicatedly to redesign the Bachelor Degree Programme, the flagship programme of the university, as per Choice-Based Credit System mode as it provides IGNOU students the scope of mobility both within and outside the university.”
The university awarded 2,00,000 degrees, diplomas, and certificates to successful students during the convocation. Gold medals were also awarded to over 70 meritorious students. The convocation function was conducted simultaneously at 53 regional centres across the country while the main function was held at the headquarters.
Courtesy: The Hindu
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