BHUBANESWAR: Vice-President (V-P) M Hamid Ansari on Friday said, ‘’The booming coaching industry that stands as a monumental reflection of the institutional and systematic failure of education must be reversed so that centrality is accorded to classroom learning.’’ Addressing the 44th convocation of Utkal University here, he said Government schools and colleges must deliver educational outcomes that are commensurate if not superior to those in the private sector. The key to improving quality, and indeed the entire edifice of our education system is to bring the focus back on teachers, he said and added, ‘’We should de-politicise education.’’ Ansari said the structure, quality of all universities in the country and their output were the subject of critical scrutiny in the Yashpal Committee Report of 2009. The Committee was tasked to suggest measures for rejuvenation of higher education, he said. The report said universities remain one of the most under-managed and badly-governed organisations in society. Ansari said there is an urgent need to move away from the lure of branding and elitist education. He advocated shifting of focus to learning outcomes from the current emphasis on input indicators such as infrastructure, teaching faculty and other resources across all tiers of education.‘’We must create avenues for skills training and vocational education so that entering varsities does not become a default choice for the sake of employment,’’ Ansari said. He called upon teachers to focus on cultivating critical thinking skills and competencies among students than concentrating on just completion of syllabus.MORE DEPTs IN OFFING: Vice-Chancellor (V-C) Prashant Kumar Sahoo said the varsity has mooted new PG departments in PPP mode and offering new courses through existing departments. He said the academic council in its last meeting approved the introduction of new courses like M.Tech in Computational Finance and Nutrition and Food Technology. The V-C further said the varsity is in the process of restructuring its curriculum across-the-board both at graduation and PG levels. GIRLS OUTNUMBER BOYS: In the race for gold medals that were given away at the convocation, girls left the boys far behind. Of the 91 gold medals given away, 75 were bagged by girls. Similarly, seven out of nine students, who got cash prizes, were girls. One Doctorate in Science and 192 Ph.D awards were conferred. The University also bestowed Honoris Causa on Justice Ananga Pattanaik, UU Lalit, Dr Bansidhar Panda and Dr Ramakanta Panda. Two others, who were to get the honour, Harish Salve and Rohinton Nariman were not present. Governor and Chancellor of Universities Murlidhar Chandrakant Bhandare presided over the function.
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