The Hindu : Karnataka News : Economic growth linked to education: Kalam

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Sep 24, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

Economic growth linked to education: Kalam

By Our Special Correspondent

GULBARGA, SEPT. 23. The President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, said today that for sustained economic development, all information that had been generated should be used to improve the skills of students and help them embark on a life-long mission of learning.

Inaugurating the silver jubilee celebrations of Gulbarga University on the main campus on the outskirts of Gulbarga, Mr. Kalam said the people of the country had the ability to use technology to teach themselves to become learners. A good education system was needed to ensure that students would eventually contribute to economic growth.

Educational institutions should build in students the capacity for inquiry, creativity and innovation, the ability to use high technology, and qualities that would enable them to provide "moral leadership."

Role of teachers

He stressed the role of teachers in universities, and said they should provide an environment for students to learn by themselves. Despite technological innovations, the role of teachers had not diminished. Education would involve teleporting the best teacher to every nook and corner of the country to propagate knowledge, he added.

He said the university should give more importance to research and suggested that the Postgraduate (PG) Centre at Sandur in Bellary should be converted into a centre of excellence for studies in iron ore processing in collaboration with steel industries and the School of Mines, Dhanbad. The PG Centre in Bidar should be converted into a school of excellence for research in sugar technology, which would help address the problem of sugarcane growers and sugar processing in the region. The Bellary centre should take up entrepreneurial training and become an employment generator.

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