VICE PRESIDENT M Venkaiah Naidu inaugurated the World Universities Summit 2021 organised by O P Jindal Global University on “Universities of the Future: Building Institutional Resilience, Social Responsibility and Community Impact” on Wednesday. In his address, the Vice President said, “There are pressing issues facing higher education today as we embark on a path of recovery from the pandemic. Education drives the economy of the nation to chart the course of prosperity through the useful application of knowledge. “We face a complex demand in education which is not only marked by large student numbers and the rural-urban geographic divide, but also by the unique diversity in our country. While our numbers and diversity are our strength, they also bring upon us the challenges of equity of access to education. “We should aim to be ‘Vishwagurus’ in education.

 

The ongoing pandemic has disrupted our lives and an estimated 1.2 billion children have been pulled out of classrooms globally. Today 32 direct-to-home channels are dedicated to providing online education but not all have access to online infrastructure. “Even if we resolve these issues, we cannot substitute the classroom experience with online learning. We need to explore the best hybrid model combining the best practice of online learning and classroom teaching.” Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan congratulated the O P Jindal Global University about the scale and scope of WUS 21. He said, India has a long history of higher education.

 

“India needs an education system designed for 1.38 billion people and our reality today is starkly different than before. In today’s age of globalisation and liberalisation, we must reform the education sector. The New National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 reimagines the transformation of India’s education landscape and it outlines the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in not only creating responsible citizens but also a global citizen — Vishwamanav.