The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 has a holistic vision of transforming the way children and youth will be educated to make learning a part of personal development while also serving the needs of society, said President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday.
Delivering the 16th annual convocation address at Thiruvalluvar University in Vellore, he hailed the NEP. “India had a rich system of education prior to the British rule. Gandhiji described it as a ‘beautiful tree’ that was cut down by what the British rulers called reforms. We are yet to fully recover from those drastic changes and recover our legacy. The NEP is a well-planned and decisive step in that direction,” he said.
Mr. Kovind said the policy brings together the best of India’s ancient heritage and the best of modern learning. “A student coming out of such a system will have a higher degree of self-confidence and will also be better equipped to meet the challenges of the future,” he said.
The President expressed happiness over the fact that 65 percent of the students in the university were women. “Our daughters and sisters are breaking barriers and achieving success in all fields. This is clear from the fact that today, out of 66 students conferred with gold medals for academic excellence, 55 of them are women students,” he said.
Mr. Kovind started his speech in Tamil and later said that he felt proud to stand on the soil that had witnessed the Vellore Sepoy uprising of 1806, which was one of the precursors to the Independence movement.
The President also had advice for the students: “What we learn from books is learning, while what we learn from life is wisdom,” he said.
A total of 80,176 students, including 68,054 undergraduates, 10,434 postgraduates, 1,320 M.Phil holders, seven diploma holders, and 78 postgraduate diploma holders graduated and 283 students received their degrees in person.
Banwarilal Purohit, Governor, Tamil Nadu and Thiruvalluvar University Vice Chancellor Thamarai Selvi Somasundaram, were also present on the occasion.
