Kerala - Kannur   

Stress on science education

KANNUR: Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan has said the State government will place more emphasis on science and technology education and research.

This is to equip the State to catch up with other States having more number of higher education centres. Inaugurating the Observatory Tower of the District Panchayat’s Science

Park here on Monday, Mr. Balakrishnan said the State government was committed to ensuring that the fruits of the country’s achievements reached all sections of society.

At present, beneficiaries of the scientific progress was a small segment that was using

science and technology to accelerate exploitation, he averred.

Though the State had made great strides in the education sector, it was lagging in the arena of higher education, the Minister said.

The government had given special focus on higher education in the 11th Five Year Plan to tide over this shortcoming. The government had already initiated steps to make available 500 acre of land at Cheemeni in Kasaragod for the proposed Central University, he said.

The government was also committed to providing land to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) at Ponmudi, he said.

Proposal for setting up a nanotechnology institution was also in the pipeline, he said adding that the government planned to set up the proposed Indian Institute of Technology in the State in the Cochin University for Science and Technology.

Mr. Balakrishnan said more science-oriented courses would be started in the State as part of a plan to increase science awareness among students.

Observing that research scholars in the State were facing various obstacles, he said the government was planning to institute a scholarship for research scholars.

Presiding over the function, District Panchayat president K.K. Narayanan said the panchayat had already spent Rs.53 lakh for the development of the observatory tower.

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