Education, as Sri Narayan Guru reminded us, could uplift the quality of the student’s life and thus also of society, said the President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind. He was addressing the fifth convocation of the Central University of Kerala in Kasargod today (December 21, 2021). The President said that the great sage and social reformer used to inspire people with his lines like “Vidyakondu Prabuddha Ravuka” which signifies, “Get enlightened through education”. He said that the lives of great men and women, especially the leaders of our freedom movement, highlight the simple truth that schools and colleges are the most important sites of personal and social transformation. These are the workshops where the destiny of a nation is shaped. 

The President said that the liveliness and energy that he experiences in educational places like the beautiful campus of the Central University of Kerala comes from the possibilities of social empowerment. Here is a place where ideas are nurtured, taught and learnt. In this process, the atmosphere gets energised with the vitality of thoughts to give birth to new ideas. This unbroken cycle of knowledge is essential to empower the society and the nation, he said. 

Speaking about the National Education Policy, 2020, the President said that in the promotion of education, the task of the government is to help create the right environment in which the young minds will be fired with creativity. The NEP is a well-planned roadmap to develop an eco-system that will nurture the talent of our young generation. It aims to prepare them for the world of tomorrow, while also equipping them with the best of our own traditions. 

The President said that, in his view, the most outstanding feature of the NEP is that it aims to promote both inclusion and excellence. Through its varied curricula, NEP promotes liberal as well as professional education, because each stream of knowledge has a role to play in society and in nation-building. That way, the NEP can become instrumental for India to harness and reap the demographic dividend. He said that the growing population of our country makes it incumbent upon us to nurture the next generation talent. When the younger generation is provided with skills and knowledge required for success in the world of the twenty-first century, they can do miracles, he added. 

The President said that the 21st century is described as knowledge century. Knowledge power will determine the place of a nation in the global community. In India, Kerala has led the other states on the critical parameters of literacy and education. This has enabled Kerala to be a leading state on several other parameters of excellence too.

Click here to see the President's speech

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DS/SKS