By Our Reporter
Shillong: “The liberalization of global economy in recent years has called for a change in the higher education scenario,” said Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma.
Inaugurating a two-day national seminar on “Changing scenario in higher education” organised by Lady Keane College on its premises here on Friday, Dr Sangma said globalization had created a lot of opportunities which could solve the problem of unemployment and the youth should acquire the kind of knowledge and skills to fit in the space available in the job market.
While stressing on this point the Chief Minister said there is a need to impart creative and innovative education to the students to ensure that they acquire the right knowledge and skills as far as employment in corporate business houses are concerned.
He, however, said the state was in a difficult situation as there were already a large number of youths who are unemployed and the main question is how to find out ways to address this issue. “Therefore a properly planned and effectively implemented vocational education system will enable the unemployed youth to take on profitable challenges for self sustenance”, added the Chief Minister.
Dr. Sangma also lamented that due to the unchanging educational system, the educated unemployed youth have resorted to anti-social activities which have hampered the developmental process in the State and the country as a whole. “Therefore, it is the duty and responsibility of all stakeholders to put their heads together to impart knowledge and provide the right guidance to the young minds that would bring together the materials resources and human energies so as to raise the standard of living and bring about a radical change in mindset,” he added.
Dr Sangma admitted that the State is in a mess as far as education is concerned and added “It is noticed that the pass percentage of students in the rural areas is very low and this is a serious problem which needs to be look into”. He also stressed on the need to impart financial training to the government officials to prevent and tackle the drain and wastage of financial assets of the State.
Meanwhile, delivering the keynote address, Vice President ICCR and former Rajya Sabha member Prof Bharati Ray stressed on the need to update the syllabi of higher education by including vocational and technological courses preparing a student for good grab of the changing scenario in education. “The different challenges that we are going to face are mainly providing access, quality education, infrastructure, vocational and technological courses and cultivating values among the students”, she said.
The main objectives of this seminar are to focus on some of the core issues related to higher education so that all concerned become aware of the various scopes and opportunities in the education sector.
The others present at the function were President of the College Learning Committee, Roshan Warjri, former VC of Rabindra Bharati University (West Bengal) besides others.