'India struggling in primary education sector'

Speaking after inaugurating the national seminar on ‘Hubs of 21st century life- How should universities and colleges adapt to a changing world?’ at Besant Women’s College here on Friday, he said that the wealth of the nation will go up if masses are educated and that no inclusive growth is possible without education.

“We are telling the world that there is water in the moon. We have the power to dictate nuclear policies of the world. But we are struggling when it comes to primary education,” he lamented and hoped that the novel path beginning with SSA will change the scenario. Educational institution should try to bridge the disparity between what the industry needs and what we produce. Our major drawback is that we don’t give much importance to vocational education, he added.

In his presidential address, Vice Chancellor of Yenepoya University Dr Syed Akheel Ahmed said that ours was an agriculture driven economy at a time, then a technology driven economy and now a knowledge driven economy. He stressed the need of building up a knowledge capitalism. For a knowledge driven economy to succeed, the students and teachers should be in a process of continuous learning. A teacher should be a facilitator, he added.

President of Women’s National Education Society Kudupi Jagadish Shenoy presided over the function. Coordinator of the seminar Syed Kahdar S explained the theme of the seminar. Principal Dr Manjula K T, Correspondent of the College B Mohan Nayak and others were present.