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`Education should broaden intellectual capabilities'

Staff Reporter

NAAC director says limited access to higher education is a major concern

KANNUR: Director of the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) V.S. Prasad has said that emerging market orientation of higher education should be integrated with larger goals of education to make society more civilised and sensible.

"In practice, the focus of education has shifted from society to market," said Dr. Prasad, delivering the 10th foundation lecture of Kannur University on its Mangattuparamba campus here on Friday.

He said that all the education experts in the country would agree on the broader goals of education. How to broaden the intellectual capabilities of learners was a major challenge in the higher education sector, he added.

Dr. Prasad said that one of the observation made in the national policy on higher education 20 years ago that higher education in the country was still at the crossroads was still relevant today as the higher education field here continued to be replete with paradoxes and moving in different directions. Limited access was a major concern in the higher education sector as only eight per cent of the particular age group had access to it.

In terms of the size of the country, this rate was very limited, he said adding that even this limited access was restricted to certain sections of the community.

"We are not even able to make full use of this limited opportunity as 30 per cent of colleges in the country are non-viable," Dr. Prasad said adding that provision of relevant education opportunities to large number of students was another major challenge.

Stating that education was for the public good, he said that education was not just to make students earn their living. Lamenting that education activity was now reduced to lecturing activity, he said that the purpose of education was more important than the process of education.

Core areas

The NAAC Director said that the national accreditation body had identified national development, fostering of global consciousness and promotion of technology and excellence as core areas.

He said that though three million graduates were coming out every year in the country, only 25 per cent of them were said to be employable graduates. "There is a contradiction between qualification and competence," he pointed out.

Learning ambience

Dr. Prasad urged the institutions to make contributions to create a learning ambience that included physical, academic and spiritual.

"A university is a centre for clash of ideas and not a centre for clash of persons," he said. Education was a social capital which would result in social wealth, Dr. Prasad said adding that NAAC was advocating concerted efforts to improve quality of education.

Vice-Chancellor P. Chandramohan presided over the function. Pro Vice-Chancellor K. Kunhikrishnan and Registrar K.M. Abdur Rasheed were present. Merit awards to first rank-holders in the university examinations were also distributed at the function.

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