The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : ‘Market forces creating materialism in youth’

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Monday, Feb 18, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

‘Market forces creating materialism in youth’

Staff Reporter

Youth missing out on human values, says
NAL director
’Stress is on getting everything instantly’

Bangalore: The process of education is being buffeted by market forces, said A.R. Upadhya, director, National Aerospace Laboratories, Bangalore.

Due to globalisation, new courses are being tailored for the job market, with just enough being taught and learnt to pass examinations and get a degree, he added.

Delivering the regional convocation address at the regional centre of the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) in Bangalore on Saturday,

Dr. Upadhya said the changing trends and values had a direct effect on children and youth. They were missing out on opportunities to learn to share, to love and to be compassionate.

“The result of such a trend is that while one comes out of the university with a degree, one may not be ‘educated’ at all in the true sense of the word. One is not fully prepared to face life on one’s own with efficiency,” he said.

Referring to job opportunities with attractive pay packets, Dr. Upadhya said there was a rush among the youth to get everything as quickly as possible — a get-rich-quick attitude, with competition to see who was better-off.

“This approach is putting enormous stress on youngsters very early in life, which has its undesirable effects on the mental and physical health, and on family life,” he said.

Dr. Upadhya said the need of the hour was to go back and think about the basic education, and to learn to lead a balanced existence, between ever-increasing wants and basic needs.

New courses

IGNOU Regional Director B.S. Sudhindra said the Centre proposed to start two new courses — B. Tech in aircraft technology and maintenance and a certificate course in molecular medicine, from the next academic year.

The Centre would build its own campus on three acres of land allotted by the Government near Electronics City, said Dr. Sudhindra.

Gold medals

Four students of IGNOU’s Bangalore Regional centre won gold medals in their respective courses: Theresa Jasintha Vas (B.Sc-Nursing), M. Shalini (PG Diploma in Geriatric Medicine), S. Aruna (PG Diploma in Intellectual Property Rights) and Havaldhar S. Thanga Mariyappan (PG Diploma in Mechanical Engineering).

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