Tamil Nadu - Thanjavur   

Focus on character building, students told

By Our Staff Reporter

K.P. Aravanan, former Vice-Chancellor, Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, presenting a degree to a student at the convocation of Bharath College of Science and Management in Thanjavur on Sunday.

THANJAVUR, MAY 30. The aim of education is not moneymaking but character building, K. P. Aravanan, former Vice-Chancellor of Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, has said.

Delivering the first convocation address at Bharath College of Science and Management here today, he said the International Commission on Education, set up by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), has stipulated that the four pillars of education were learning to know, learning to do, learning to live together and learning to be.

Mahatma Gandhi said, `Education without character is a sin.' On the contrary, education is now considered a way to make money, get materialistic things like a white-collar job, promotions and increments. Unfortunately, some graduates think that they are licensed to vices like smoking, drinking and teasing women, and want to be respected just because they are graduates.

Though the literacy percentage is 65.3, most of the literates live like `educated illiterates,' Dr. Aravanan said.

Education should help us understand ourselves and make us cultured. The UNESCO's report warned that the world would be dehumanised due to changes in technology.

The report said that education should enable everyone to solve his problem, make his own decision and shoulder his responsibility.

The report also said that both children and adults should be given every possible opportunity to discover and experience aesthetic, artistic, scientific, cultural and social issues.

Graduate and Post-Graduate degrees, in various disciplines, were conferred on 72 candidates during the convocation.

The Principal, Sivapunniyam, who presented the college report, said the college offered degrees in various courses including Hotel Management and Catering Science, Fashion Technology and Costume Design, Visual Communication, Biotechnology and Nutrition and Dietics, and Post-Graduate degrees in courses including Bioinformatics and Biotechnology.

N. Ganesan, secretary of the college, welcomed the gathering.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Tamil Nadu

News: Front Page | National | Tamil Nadu | Andhra Pradesh | Karnataka | Kerala | New Delhi | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Updates: Breaking News |

Stories in this Section

• Focus on character building, students told

Copyright © 2004, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu