: The government will promote universities to achieve complete academic autonomy, said Minister for Education C. Raveendranath on Sunday. Inaugurating a new library at Thunchath Ezhuthachan Malayalam University, Mr. Raveendranath said the government would help State universities to achieve global standards instead of promoting foreign universities.
Universities should grow in accordance with the level of education expected of them, he said. “Our universities should lay emphasis on research, not on courses,” he said.
The Minister said instead of promoting European philosophy, the State universities should strive to uphold indigenous thoughts such as that of Sree Narayana Guru. Mr. Raveendranath said t Malayalam University had proved that Malayalam language was good enough to acquire all branches of knowledge. Kerala Sahitya Akademi president Vaisakhan was the chief guest on the occasion. He said libraries were the universities in reality. “Libraries will help dispel darkness from our lives and bring about pluralism,” he said.
C. Mammootty, MLA, presided. Vice Chancellor K. Jayakumar, Registrar K.M. Bharatan, Academic Dean M. Sreenathan, Library advisor P. Jayarajan, Tirur block panchayat president Afsath, Kuttippuram block panchayat president Athavanad Mohammed Kutty, Tirur municipal chairman S. Girish, FACT-RCF managing director C.P. Dinesh, and student union chairman A.K. Vineesh spoke. A documentary on Akkitham directed by Roshni Swapna was released on the occasion. The library in two storeys with capacity of 50,000 books cost Rs. 1.78 crore.
