Updated on: Wednesday, February 24, 2016
Central universities are favoured over state varsities and this has led to quality of knowledge and research going down at the latter, said noted scientist GD Yadav on Saturday as he called for doing away with traditional style of classroom teaching.
There is a yawning gap between the State and central universities. The quality of knowledge and research in state universities has gone down because more favour is granted to Central universities, he said.
Yadav, vice-chancellor of Mumbai-based Institute of Chemical Technology, was addressing the 32nd convocation of Sant Gadge Baba Amravati University.
The duty of universities is to create new knowledge and remain at the forefront of advances in science and technology, said the Padma Shri award winner. "Only then new knowledge can be extended to the students."
Stating that not a single university or an IIT of the country is among the top 100 universities of the world, Yadav said the fault for this either lies in our education system or in research tendency. Urging teachers to give up the traditional style of classroom teaching, Yadav appealed to them to focus more on developing ideas among students.
"Students should be taught through discussion because in classroom teaching students' time of concentration is only for seven minutes. There is a need for participation-based education."
Quoting the mythological story of Eklavya and Dronacharya, Yadav linked it to the modern day Internet.
"Internet is the incarnation of Dronacharya, but today's Eklavya needs to know the truth after a lot of thinking," he added.