The Hindu : National : Digitise items in Viswa Bharati university: Kalam

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Saturday, Oct 02, 2004

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National

Digitise items in Viswa Bharati university: Kalam

By Marcus Dam

President, A P J Abdul Kalam, with Swami Smaranananda, Ramakrishna Mission's general secretary, at the inauguration of Swami Vivekananda's Ancestral House and Cultural Centre, in Kolkata, on Friday -- Photo: Parth Sanyal

SANTINIKETAN, OCT. 1. The President A.B.J. Abdul Kalam, today called upon the authorities of the Viswa Bharati University here to ensure that the standards of "inputs" are raised to a national and international level.

Mr. Kalam, who had a 40-minute discussion with officials of the university, said the authorities should digitise the items in the university library and the museum — Rabindra Bhavan

which had been under a cloud since the theft of the Nobel medallion on March 25.

Earlier in the day, the university authorities received an assurance from the Nobel Foundation that all efforts would be made to supply a replica of the stolen medallion. This came in reply to a recent reminder to the Swedish Academy to consider a replacement, the request having first been made four months ago. The President too, was reportedly anxious that a replica be arranged for.

Mr. Kalam also had a 90-minute-long inter-active session with students and teachers, answering their questions and reminding the congregation that the university "has the potential to create human history." As there was not enough time to answer all the 66 questions that had earlier been sent to his office the President replied to seven in the course of the session on subjects ranging from the responsibilities of a teacher to the role of music in education. The response to the remaining questions would be available on the Internet, he said. Nearly 450 students and about 200 teachers were present at the session, held on the lawns of Uttarayan.

Mr. Kalam later paid a brief visit to Shyamali, Tagore's residence, where he asked photographers accompanying him to take pictures of a photograph of Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi, standing side by side.

The President urged the authorities to consider the introduction of moral science for study even if "it is for about an hour each week." "How can we make Gurudev's (Rabindranath Tagore) vision a reality" was a concern he repeatedly expressed, underscoring the need for "building an integrated personality."

He also asked the authorities to prepare a "vision document plan, 2020" suggesting the setting up of "virtual classrooms", which were feasible now that the education satellite had been launched.

"Remove the thought of being average", the President said in response to a question related to the "survival of the average being in a highly competitive world".

Answering a question on what was the "model teacher" he said that "teachers should inject curiosity" among their students.

"Do not be defeated by the problem, defeat the problem and succeed", Mr. Kalam said.

The Vice-Chancellor of the university, Dr. Basu, said later that the authorities had submitted a Rs. 10-crore project to the Centre for strengthening the security in the university campus.

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