Kalam asks youth to develop spirit of entrepreneurship
Yangon, Mar 10 (UNI) President A P J Abdul Kalam today said India and Myanmar should invest in education and inculcate youth to develop the spirit of entrepreneurship which will also help solving unemployment problem in both the countries.
President Kalam was addressing the students and members of the faculty of the Yangon University.
Dr Kalam said there has been substantial growth in India's higher educational system and that the country is producing over three million graduates every year and added such increase in the number of graduates lead to unemployment problems.
''We need higher education with employment potential that will create employment opportunities. A multi-pronged strategy is needed to make education more attractive and simultaneously create employment potential,'' he said.
The President said the educational system should inculcate spirit of entrepreneurship and prepare students right from college to get oriented towards setting up of enterprises which will provide them creativity, freedom and ability to generate wealth. The banking system should provide venture capital right from the village level to prospective entrepreneurs for undertaking new enterprises.
He said banks have to be proactive to support innovative products for enabling wealth generation by young entrepreneurs. Enhancement of purchasing power among people is required.
This can come about when universities become a facilitator for creating this entrepreneurship scheme through the support of the banking system and the marketing system. This will enhance the value of the education and create motivation for students.
The Universities of Delhi, Calcutta and Madras in India will be happy to share this experience with Yangon University, the President added.
The President said knowledge creation is important and added knowledge creation has two dimensions, one is explicit knowledge and the other one is implicit knowledge. Explicit knowledge comes from published books, written materials, proceedings, presentations etc, whereas implicit knowledge is derived through the systematic observation and capture of data from tacit knowledge available among individuals in the organisation, through their approach to problem solving and goal setting.
He said the Yangon University has captured a substantial amount of ancient knowledge through library books.
The President said digital library is an important component for capturing explicit knowledge. This has to be supplemented with implicit knowledge to the digital library system, which will eventually be transformed into a knowledge management system. This may be relevant to Myanmar also.
Dr Kalam said India will be very happy to participate in a joint programme of exchanging scholars and students in different subjects of interest to Myanmar.
He added that India has reserved 20 seats for post doctoral research, at the Indian Institute of Science and Indian Institute of Technologies. Similarly, India will also send certain number of scholars for studying subjects such as Myanmar, oriental studies and international relations. This will definitely bring back the common cultural and civilizational heritages of both Myanmar and India.
The President also narrated an incident which took place in Nalanda in the state of Bihar in when he was there in May 2003. He said he saw the place, where hundreds of scholars assembled and discoursed and added Nalanda University was vibrant in the area in 7th and 8th century BC with theology-teaching classrooms, discourse rooms and monks hostels.
The President said ''this is the place where thoughts were transmitted, discussed and integrated towards a good way of life, which people were looking for from many countries.'' Yangon University will generate enlightened citizens for the country and the planet, he added.
UNI SMA PA HT2014