The Hindu : Karnataka News : Teachers, the only saviours: Lahoti

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Dec 31, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

Teachers, the only saviours: Lahoti

By Our Special Correspondent

GULBARGA, DEC. 30. The Chief Justice of India, Ramesh Chandra Lahoti, said here on Thursday that the country is facing crises of character, credibility and competence.

Delivering the 23rd convocation address of Gulbarga University, Mr. Lahoti said solutions to these problems lie in the hands of teachers. Committed teachers should assume the responsibility, as they had done in the past, to transform and shape young people into creative citizens.

He said the 20th Century has bestowed many valuable gifts, most of which, however, are materialistic. One of the major casualties in this has been spirituality.

Mr. Lahoti said education should not be considered only a way to acquire wealth, power and status. The real purpose of education is to enable people to sustain their bodies and grow their souls.

The ultimate purpose is attaining an exalted state of virtuous conduct by growing a discerning mind, which can distinguish the good from the bad and lead to salvation. Education acted as catalyst in helping people rise to a higher level of existence.

"An ideal education not only empowers the student with tools essential for his survival in the competitive world but also help him achieve the development of character without which a man, though he may be useful to him, will not be useful to society," he said.

Mr. Lahoti said teachers have an important role in the present-day education scenario.

A teacher is not just one who is possessed of means for spreading literacy, but a teacher is he who has a vision and capacity to impart learning and putting into use the means for the purpose of achieving creative ends.

He said teaching is a service-oriented profession, which requires a will to sacrifice. He stressed the need for intensive orientation courses for enhancing qualities and sharpening skills of teachers.

Tools of modern technology can be of immense help not only for identifying innate qualities required for the profession but also in assisting teachers to sharpen communication skills and deliver thoughts effectively.

Cradle for luminaries

Mr. Lahoti said Gulbarga had been the cradle for many legal luminaries, such as Vijnaneshwara whose work Mitakshara is accepted as the authority on Hindu Law even today, and reformers, such as Basaveshwara, who led to social transformation in the country. In a word of advice to students, he said mediocrity was not anathema to excellence, and called upon them to set goals that are achievable and enhance the capacity for setting higher targets.

"The secret of success and contentment lies in finding out one's own power and limitations.''

Students should learn the art of working for others and working with others by designing, sharing and achieving common goals.

Honorary doctorates

The Governor and Chancellor of the university, T.N. Chaturvedi, who presided over the convocation, gave away honorary doctorates to the Supreme Court judge Shivaraj Patil; the freedom fighter and educationist V.P. Deulgoankar; the noted medical teacher and physician P.S. Shankar; the Hindustani vocalist Manikrao Raichurkar; and the noted writer Shantarasa. Mr. Chaturvedi also gave Ph.D. degrees, and gold medals and cash awards to meritorious students.

Prathi P. Jani who has won the highest number of seven gold medals for standing first in the MBA examination, was absent.

B. Basavaraj got six gold medals for standing first in MA (Kannada). Umashankar (MA social work); Jyothi Ravindra Teganur (MCA); Jennifer Xavier (M.Sc. biotechnology) and Kumari Tanushree (LL.B.) got four gold medals each. Except for the convocation address in the English by Mr. Lahoti, the proceedings were conducted in Kannada.

The Supreme Court judge B.N. Srikrishna; the Chief Justice of the Madras High Court, Markandeya Katju; the Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court, N.K. Sodhi; the former Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court M. Rama Jois; and the Minister for Higher Education Minister, D. Manjunath, were present.

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