Our Correspondent
KOHIMA, OCTOBER 1
Governor of Nagaland, PB Acharya today officially released ‘Distance and Open Education Worldwide: Contributions of The Global Open University Nagaland’, a 1500-paged voluminous book authored by Dr. Priya Ranjan Trivedi. The author is the founder Chancellor of the ten years old open university of Nagaland (TGOUN).
Speaking at the function marking the release of the book at the Raj Bhavan, Kohima Thursday evening, the Governor lauded the TGOUN for its primary goal to bring to the young people of Nagaland skill oriented education. He observed that Nagas are very good musicians and artists, and given an opportunity, they can excel in other fields as well, including education.
The book release event was organized by the Confederation of Indian Universities (CIU) and Commonwealth of Distance Education (CODE), and was hosted by TGOUN.
Underscoring that education empowers a person, Acharya stated that no state or country can develop or progress without empowerment. He said education is not just about acquiring a degree and anyone who limits his/her ultimate goal to getting a degree is failing to understand the true meaning of education itself.
“Getting a degree and empowering yourself with knowledge is only a beginning,” he said. Stating that a person is moulded into what he or she is by different factors in society, the Governor stressed that it is wrong to make education is self-centred or money oriented. We owe a debt to our family, our village, society, state and nation for all the knowledge and education that we have acquired today, he said. He also pointed out that Indians are second to none in every aspect of life, however, if their goal is not clear then their roadmap will also go in the wrong way.
“Every aspect of life, we have reached the zenith, but we ourselves condemn ourselves for something like yoga… Yoga is not only a curative medicine but it is a preventive medicine also. It has nothing to do with Hinduism. The whole world has accepted it,” Acharya said, underlining that yoga is a cultural identity of the Indians.
He stated that India with the youth comprising 68% of its population has the opportunity to go and serve the people with their knowledge of skills. “A graduate coming out of the university should have confidence in himself and he should not be a burden to the society but rather be an asset to the nation,” he pointed out while talking about the many youth who after acquiring conventional degrees go begging for jobs. Towards this, he underscored the need for an ideal dialogue between the industry, commerce, trade and education for utilization of available resources. He also maintained that researches and theses must be done with the aim to alleviate social problems.
On distance education, the Governor said this mode of education is the future of education and he feels that the four-wall education system will one day become irrelevant. The ultimate goal to achieve knowledge should be to apply it to the society, he reiterated.
The author, Dr. Trivedi in his address, said that the Global Open University has made its mark all over the world by training more than 1,50,000 students in more than 300 areas. Despite this, he said the courses could not be popularized in the grassroots levels but now under the “dynamic leadership”, he is optimistic that the benefits of distance and open learning mode of education will go directly to the people of Nagaland. He also informed that the university has designed 2100 professional and skills-based courses and he is optimistic that with the help of the TGOUN, many of these courses will be introduced in the state and the people of Nagaland will benefit from them.
Minister for Forest, Environment & Climate Change, Dr. Neikesalie Nicky Kire and parliamentary secretary for Higher & Technical Education Deo Nukhu also delivered brief speeches. While congratulating the author and the TGOUN for their feat, the legislators conveyed their hope that the book will be an asset to the young people of Nagaland.
Others who spoke on the occasion include TGOUN chancellor, TN Mannen, vice chancellor Dr. HN Dutta and registrar Dr. Imotemsu Ao.
