SHILLONG: Education Minister Lahkmen Rymbui pointed out that knowledge in science and technology could devise solutions to minimise the growing challenges and problems faced by the country.
Speaking at the Fifth Annual Convocation of National Institute of Technology, Meghalaya on Saturday, he said the state of Meghalaya was facing challenges such as in eradicating poverty, unemployment, inadequate infrastructure, access to clean drinking water and indiscriminate use and depletion of natural resources.
“Most of these can be solved by innovations in science and technology. You (the students) are amply blessed to be bestowed with specialised knowledge very few are fortunate to get,” he said.
With many countries making waves with new-age scientific innovation and advancement, he noted that the students should inculcate the culture of innovation using technological prowess.
He termed the adoption of five villages near the permanent campus at Sohra under Unnat Bharat Ahiyan scheme by the institute as a culture of uplifting humanity.
“I am sure that you will take the onus of developing many more under-privileged villages that require intervention from knowledgeable entities,” he said.
He expressed hope that the works on permanent campus at Sohra got expedited to ensure the students operate from an environment with fewer constraints.
Rymbui lauded institute for operating extremely well within the constraints and have generated graduates in the graduation, post-graduation and doctoral levels.
He said, “It is good to know that the performance of NIT Meghalaya has been remarkable as reflected in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) rankings of the past three years.”
Turning to the performance of the students of the state in taking up science and technology subjects, he said, “The state has been churning a lot of graduates in all the fields but it lacked in generation of graduates in the field of science and technology.”