The liberal approach brought in by the National Education Policy-2020 will help students combine the subjects of their choice, ensuring wholistic learning, former Chairman of the NEP-2020 drafting committee K. Kasturirangan, has said.
Delivering his address at the combined annual convocation of the Sri Venkateswara University (SVU) on Thursday, Dr. Kasturirangan, who now heads the National Steering Committee for National Curriculum Framework, said that the idea of liberal education has been vividly discussed in the classical Indian texts such as Banabhatta’s Kadambari written some 1,400 years ago.
The university organised its 58 th, 59 th, 60 th, 61 st and 62 nd convocation at one go.
“Comprehensive liberal education help develops intellectual, aesthetic, social, physical, emotional and moral capacities. The current compartmentalised approach in education must go, making way for an integrated, multi-disciplinary and holistic approach,” said Dr. Kasturirangan.
Referring to the National Research Foundation (NRF), Dr. Kasturirangan said it would nurture a vibrant research ecosystem through adequate funding, mentoring and monitoring.
The former ISRO Chairman also advised to the students to make use of the research facilities such as National Atmospheric Research Laboratory at Gadanki, Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota and National Remote Sensing Centre in Hyderabad.
Governor and Chancellor of universities Biswa Bhusan Harichandan, who conducted the convocation proceedings in virtual mode, advised the academics to acknowledge digital classrooms as the mainstay of teaching. He said that learning through Internet and smart phones was a logical step in the field of knowledge dissemination.
Honorary doctorate
The university conferred a honorary doctorate on IPS officer-turned-philanthropist Chandra Bhanu Satpathy for bring a change in the lives of more than 20,000 differently-abled children through his ‘Swabhiman’ society in Bhubaneshwar.
Similar titles were conferred on renowned psychiatrist Indla Ramasubba Reddy and ‘Avadhani’ Narala Rama Reddy.
Vice-Chancellor K. Raja Reddy read out the annual report that highlighted the achievements of the university on academic, research and social fronts.
As many as 26,052 students who passed out in the last five years received their degrees. While 15,018 students received their degrees in advance, 8,563 got them in absentia and 2,471 in person. Around 340 gold medals and 213 prizes were presented to meritorious candidates on the occasion.
