e-education should be taken seriously: Minister

Updated on: Friday, December 16, 2011

The 86th annual general body meeting of the Association of Indian Universities (AIU), attended by academics from across the country, began here on Thursday.

In his inaugural address, Education Minister P. K. Abdu Rabb said that the concept of e-education should be taken seriously, with more and more cities in the country coming under the ambit of the high speed cyber network. Online education is very crucial for the people. As a pre-requisite to expansion of online education services, it is essential that various parts of the country be connected with high speed internet, he said.

Revenue Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan said that many problems still remain in the higher education system even though “we have successfully digitalised knowledge and mechanised the system”. The general complaint is that we are not showing sufficient interest in timely revision of the syllabi; teachers are not re-trained properly; examination valuation is not fool-proof and not the least inordinate delays even in the issue of degree certificates, he said.

Mr. Radhakrishnan urged the vice chancellors present to address the issue of the unbridled obsession on the part of the students as well as their parents for technical and professional education. Science, social science and humanities are being ignored. This could create an imbalance in the progress of mankind, he said.

Pankaj Chande, president of the Association of Indian Universities, said that dimensions like governance, quality, equity, access, inclusiveness, curriculum, relevance, employability, industrial requirement and finance should be at the heart of higher education reform.

Dr. Chande said that too many reforms at a time will exert pressure on those implementing it. With too many reforms, there is a chance of breakdown of the system. A strategic planning is essential to implement reforms in a phased manner, he said.

Ramachandran Thekkedath, vice chancellor of Cochin University of Science and Technology, Jose Thettayil, MLA, and A. D. N. Bajpai, secretary general (additional charge) of the AIU spoke. K. Mohandas, vice chancellor of the Kerala University of Health Sciences and former president of AIU, delivered the keynote address on the occasion.

e-education should be taken seriously: Minister

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