SEMINAR ON EDUCATION ON CROSSROAD

Maharishi Dayanand University, Rohtak in collaboration with Indian Institute of Public Administration, Haryana Regional Branch organized a one day seminar on “Higher Education at Cross Roads” on 21st September 2015 at Dr. Radhakrishnan Auditorium. Prof. Jitender Kumar, on behalf of Dronacharya College of Engineering, Gurgaon attended the seminar. More than 300 participants from various colleges of Haryana attended the event. The objective of the seminar was to discuss the challenges faced by our country in higher education.

The seminar was inaugurated by Prof. Anand Sharma of MDU Rohtak. The chief guest for the event was Shri Ram Bilas Sharma (Honorable Minister of Education, Govt. of Haryana) and the guest of honor was Sh. Manish Grover, MLA, Rohtak. The welcome address was given by Dr. G. Prasanna Kumar (Retd. IAS), Vice Chairman IIPA (HRB). He welcomed all the dignitaries and participants to the program. Presidential remarks were given by Shri M. C. Gupta (Retd. IAS of Haryana Cadre). In his address Mr. Gupta emphasized on the need of establishing many more universities in India. He requested the government to start at least one university in each district for enhancing the quality of education.

Prof. Nand Dhamija of IIPA, New Delhi presented the theme paper of the day. He shared the data of BRICS countries and presented the Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER). According to statistics only 21% students are enrolled for higher studies and out of these only a very few are employable as majority of them don’t get the quality education and knowledge. He also raised his concerns about the shortage of teaching faculties in proportion to the establishment of new colleges and universities and said it is one of the main reasons for lack of quality at the higher education level.

Prof. Saumen Chattopadhyay of J.N.U. Delhi, an expert of macro electronics briefed about Haryana’s position in higher education in the entire country. He segregated the data on the basis of Rural – Urban, Male- Female and Economic Condition wise. He said that for quality education, research should be made compulsory part of evaluation and voiced that the approach of traditional pan paper exams must be changed.

In the last session of the event Shri Ram Bilas Sharma by citing the examples of Nalanda and Takshila said that for centuries India has been the knowledge capital of the world. He shared the visions of Swami Vivekanand and said that in India, education is not limited to secure a job but for gaining intellectual knowledge. He added that the gravity of the problem of higher education has to be understood and measures are to be taken accordingly.

The vote of thanks was given by Mr. Sudhir Rajpal, Vice Chancellor of MDU Rohtak. This was a noble initiative taken by MDU, Rohtak and IIPA (HRB) for addressing a very important topic.