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‘Amartya Sen will be urged to take up Chief Mentor post in Presidency'

KOLKATA: Nobel laureate economist Amartya Sen will be approached to take up the post of Chief Mentor of Presidency College here, which is now a university, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Saturday. “Professor Sen may be having a different ideology but as an academician we respect him and it has been decided that he will be urged to become the Chief Mentor of Presidency [University].”

Expert Committee

“The Government has decided to set up an Expert Committee comprising academics from Bengal Engineering and Science University, Jadavpur University, IIT, Kharagpur, and IIM, Joka, for advising on Presidency University,” the Chief Minister said.

She also said that Harvard Professor and historian Sougata Bose would be the chairman of the committee.

It may be mentioned that within days of assuming office the Mamata Banerjee government had announced its intent of creating a mentor group for Presidency College on the lines of the one created for Nalanda University in Bihar. That body too is headed by Professor Sen.

Ms. Banerjee also held an interactive session with the top-ranking students of the State Senior Secondary Examinations, the results of which were published on Saturday.

During the session which was enabled by a regional channel, the Chief Minister greeted the students and their families and sought their suggestions on Presidency.

She sent an advance invite to the students to join her for tea next week. She said that 10 rank-holders of the Secondary exams and 55 of the Senior Secondary exams would be invited to the State Secretariat and the Town Hall respectively next Friday and Saturday for having tea with her.

Promise to students

Later, she told journalists at the Secretariat that the State Education Department had done good work in publication of the results and the department would ensure that district students had the facility to pursue their studies within their districts.

She said that her government was trying to cut through the clutter and streamline the various educational organisations and parallel outfits created by the previous government. “The system had become totally corrupt,” she said.

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