Imparting world class education is need of hour: Justice Sharma

From our Staff Correspondent

Dibrugarh, Jan 2: “May all of you walk together; may all of you speak alike; may all of you move with mutual understanding; may your paths lead to happiness and happy life,” said  chief guest of the 15th convocation of Dibrugarh University (DU), Justice Mukundakam Sharma.

He said that discipline and teaching were incomplete unless supplemented with persol characteristics and advancement of students. Education system, said Sharma, could be revamped by any amount of law unless inculcated with human values and ethics to arouse the new generation.

The 15th convocation of DU held at the premises of the administrative building of DU on Saturday was iugurated by the Governor of Assam and Chancellor of DU, Padmabha Balakrish Acharya. Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, Chancellor of Lal Bahadur Shastri Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha, New Delhi, Justice Mukundakam Sharma;   DU Vice-Chancellor Dr Alak Kumar Buragohain, and other eminent guests were also present.

Justice Mukundakam Sharma, while speaking at the ceremonial occasion, expressed his pleasure at the periodic revision of curriculum in the university and stated that review of academic exercise must be done regularly. He further appreciated the vision of the Vice Chancellor of DU to make DU a major centre for teaching, learning and research with emphasis on enhancing human values, inclusiveness and strong industry academia interfacing within the framework of an all-encompassing holistic world view. Justice Sharma even congratulated the students, the teachers for their hard work in motivating and molding the young minds and also the parents who have inspired and helped their children to become worthy and responsible citizens. He was of the view that in the education system, which dates back to the BC era, India had been a pioneer.

 In the age of globalization, imparting world class education is the need of the hour as India is now a young tion. He spoke about the promotion of subjects like History and Geography, Mathematics and Economics, as they would play a crucial role in the 21st century. Sharma regretted that in the field of education, educatiol institutions were largely being eroded due to lack of discipline, erosion of work culture as well as dedication.

Governor and Chancellor of Dibrugarh University, PB Acharya, in his iugural address congratulated the graduates of 2015 and said that convocation was a day to celebrate the most important component of higher education – the empowerment of students. Acharya further applauded Dibrugarh University for their decision to do away with the imitation of the western dress code by inducting the traditiol attire for this year’s convocation ceremony. Acharya deliberated that this change in attire would help in inspiring the cottage and handloom industry of Assam which had a rich presence of textile design and would serve as a metaphor for a re-hauling of the curricula of Indian universities.  He further highlighted the immediate challenges which higher education faced such as access to education and quality of education.

Acharya was of the view that new course centres opened under Dibrugarh University need proper State fincing to meet the challenges of continuous upgradation and employment of experienced teachers. Higher Education in India needs to devise ways to increase the skilled workforce in the country, as we must remember that our country has the highest number of sick, poor and illiterate populace for increasing the much needed human resources in the emerging sectors because knowledge added with skill were accountable to the society, said Chancellor Acharya.

The Chancellor concluded his speech with a quote of Mahatma Gandhi which states, ‘Be the change you want to see in the world’. Later Acharya, after wishing the students for their future endeavors, enlightened them on the role of youth by stating that it was the youth on which the tion depended and their diligence, resoluteness and sincerity to serve the country was India’s greatest strength.

Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, as a honoured guest at the convocation, in his address , called upon the students community and youths to accept the challenge of globalization and liberalization  in a true spirit and work dedicatedly with scientific aptitude taking along with the roots of one’s culture and traditiol values. Gogoi stated that like its tural resources and rich cultural heritage, the youths of Dibrugarh district were no less incompetent than their fellow students from other States but due to lack of proper platform and exposure, the latent talents could not focuse properly but when they get the opportunity and training they beat others in all fields of excellence. Keeping this in mind, our government has been offering all form of help and cooperation to the all the educatiol institutions of our State. Stressing women empowerment, Gogoi, proudly declared that Women University had already being started in the State.

Earlier, the Vice Chancellor of Dibrugarh University, Dr. Alak Kumar Buragohain, in his welcome address, informed the meeting on the University’s historic decision to do away with the conventiol ceremonial robes and introduce their own dress code which reflect and celebrate our cultural diversity. He stated about University’s decision to provide students fellowships to students from Myanmar and also about future academic collaboration with Universities of Thailand. He further disclosed that the University is also trying to facilitate the coming of foreign students for pursuing higher studies by establishing a Directorate of Intertiol Students and opening of a foreign students hostel along with the proposal to establish a South East Asian Research Centre to facilitate area studies programmes to make good use of the strategic location of Dibrugarh University. Elaborating the progress and contribution of Dibrugarh University that has stepped into its 50th year, Dr. Buragohain, disclosed that the University had decided to introduce courses on Bodo, Mising and Deuri languages together with the proposed introduction of certain interdiscipliry and add-on courses from the next academic session.

Noted scholar and litterateur, Dr. gen Saikia and former Chancellor of Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology and Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences and acclaimed educationist, Prof. Achyuta Samanta, were conferred the Degree of D. Litt. honoris causa,  by the Chancellor of DU.

All total 12,823 eligible applicants were conferred with their degrees, out of which 58 applicants were awarded with M. Phil degrees and 78 applicants were awarded with Ph. D degrees, at the Fifteenth Convocation.