Vice President stresses on need based education

Chandigarh, Dec 1: Vice President M Hamid Ansari today said that education should be directed at the totality of life and need of the community. Addressing a distinguished gathering of academcians, faculty and Senate members and the students at the Punjab University here after laying the foundation stone of the Rajiv Gandhi College Bhavan, Dr Ansari said that education needs to keep pace with the change taking place in society.

"In a society that is changing, the pace of movement is such that, some are left at the back while others who are galloping move upfront", he said while expressing the view that there was a need to regulate between the "slow and the galloping".

"It is the realm of though and planning, that helps in bringing about a cohesion between the slow and the fast", he opined.

The thinking process must focus on the intelligensia of communities and the universities have a role to play in this, Dr Ansari who is also the Chancellor of the University stated. The Vice Chancellors have an enormous responsiblity to confront the challenges in society, he said while refering to his tenure as Vice Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU).

Refering to the Panjab University, Dr Ansari said that it occupies a very important place in the Indian education system. The progress made by the University after being displaced from Lahore after partition is commendable, he said while praising the teaching faculity, both past and present.

Refering to the Rajiv Gandhi College Bhavan which he inagurated, the Vice President said that it was very apt on the part of the University authorities to have named their latest venture after the late Prime Minister who symbolised the youth of India.

Earlier Vice Chancellor R C Sobti welcomed the University Chancellor and gave a brief introduction of the progress made by this institution, which was the fourth oldest University in the country. However it was the first university to introduce teaching courses on its campus.

The Governor's of Punjab and Haryana, Gen (retd) S F Rodrigues and Dr A R Kidwai, respectively and Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda were also present.

The Vice Chancellor later presented a shawl and a momento of the University's prestigious Gandhi Bhavan to the Vice President. He also honoured the two Governors and the Chief Minister.

UNI