The Hindu : Bring down cost of higher education: Kalam

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jun 20, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Tamil Nadu

Bring down cost of higher education: Kalam

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI June 19. The spiralling cost of higher education — agitating parents, students, academicians and administrators alike - is a matter of concern to the First Citizen too. The President, A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, today called upon teachers and academicians to evolve methods of reducing the cost.

During an interaction session with professors and teachers of the Anna University and its affiliated colleges here, the President was asked whether he was concerned at `commercialisation of education'. He said education did not come free. Of course, now there was a law to make education compulsory for all up to a certain age. But the cost of higher education was high and ``this cost should be brought down... and there are many methods'', the President said and the teachers could also send in suggestions in this endeavour.

Earlier speaking to the academics on `engineering education and national development' at the university, he said the institutions had to create students with a capacity for research and inquiry, for creativity and innovation, capacity to use high technology, capacity to achieve entrepreneurial leadership and capacity for moral leadership. These were central to economic development and for nation building. Only such students would emerge as leaders, who were self-controlled life-long learners, who would respect authority and, at the same time, question an authority in their own way.

Dr. Kalam also wanted the teachers and Vice-Chancellors to become role models, owning responsibility for students' failure, but give to them their due for any success. Recalling a personal experience, he said his `Guru', the late Satish Dhawan, took responsibility for the failure of a satellite launch mission in 1979, even though Dr. Kalam himself led the mission. But the next year, the mission succeeded and Dhawan promptly gave him full credit.

Dr. Kalam said all 235 affiliated colleges should dream of and work at ``creating a brand for the Anna University''. The individual colleges should ensure (using a technology based network) that they publicise their individual capabilities. A good teacher's lecture or research could be shared through good connectivity, he pointed out.

At the interaction session, an Information Technology teacher said she had worked on a Tamil language software and hinted that it was not getting due recognition. Saying that people needed to work more for getting noticed, Dr. Kalam gave a specific mandate to the Anna University and college teachers to create an ``Internet search engine'' in Tamil, which could also interface with other search engines globally.

The Education Minister, S. Semmalai, welcomed the President, and the Vice-Chancellor, E. Balagurusamy, highlighted the importance of technical education for national development.

Earlier, Dr. Kalam handed over the 10,0001st copy of the Tamil version of his book Wings of Fire- (Agni Siragugal) to Dr. Balagurusamy at brief function. The publisher Gandhi Kannadasan was present.

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