The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Venkaiah Naidu for more focus on education in rural areas

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Apr 24, 2006

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Venkaiah Naidu for more focus on education in rural areas

Staff Reporter

Andhra Pradesh has already set the trend, says BJP leader

MEMORABLE OCCASION: BJP leader M. Venkaiah Naidu (right) felicitating Minister for Higher Education D.H. Shankaramurthy at a function in Bangalore on Sunday. The Minister's wife Sathyavathi is seen. — Photo: K. Murali Kumar

BANGALORE: Bharatiya Janata Party leader M. Venkaiah Naidu said here on Sunday that it was now time to take the benefits of LPG (liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation) to the rural areas.

Mr. Naidu told presspersons on the sidelines of a function to felicitate Higher Education Minister D.H. Shankaramurthy that "it is time we gave priority to the rural areas and opened more vocational education institutions, focus on basic education so that the migration towards cities by people in search of jobs is reduced."

Mr. Naidu said there should be a good mix of primary, higher and vocational education institutions apart from professional colleges in the rural areas. Andhra Pradesh had already set the trend by having colleges in every taluk, and Kerala and Tamil Nadu too were catching up. Karnataka should not be left behind, he said.

Earlier, felicitating Mr. Shankaramurthy and his wife Sathyavathi, Mr. Naidu spoke of the close bonding between Kannada and Telugu languages, and their shared culture and histories since the time of Krishnadevaraya. Keeping the audience laughing at his amusing analogies rendered mostly in Telugu, Mr. Naidu said: "as a rule I never attend such functions organised by individual communities, because I believe that a leader must rise above caste considerations."

He made an exception because of the person who is being honoured and the community which is honouring him, Mr. Naidu said, and spoke in glowing terms about the Vysya community."The Vysyas today represent the happy co-existence of Saraswathi (education) and Lakshmi (wealth)," he said, and urged them to use their resources to take education to the villages where it was needed the most.

"Is this rural exodus not the reason why today we are suffering traffic jams and wasting resources and money trying to keep ahead in the rat race?"

Mr. Naidu described Mr. Shankaramurthy as a loyal and hardworking politician. "Like me, he has never left the BJP, whether it was in power or out of it, and that is something youngsters lack today. Everyone wants to race ahead, and are willing to jump parties in utter disregard for ideology, principles and a sense of responsibility," he said.

Replying to the felicitation, Mr. Shankaramurthy, who was presented a huge garland, said: "I feel both proud and humble to be receiving this honour. I just remember that as soon as I became a Minister, many people felt very happy."

That left him with an onerous responsibility: to do his job and meet the expectations of all those who rejoiced at his elevation. Pondering over the state of education, Mr. Shankaramurthy said: "After nearly six decades, we are still debating and arguing over what we must teach our children in the primary classes and in college."

One of the first challenges he faced was the CET issue. When the Government's decision to consider only the CET scores for admission to medical courses, was criticised as anti-rural student, he had no hesitation in admitting it, and to make up he arranged for coaching on Doordarshan.

G. Mallikarjuna Rao, chairman, GMR Group, and T.G. Venkatesh of the TGV Group, a former MLA of Andhra Pradesh, were present.

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