Visakhapatnam: The Vice President of India, M. Venkaiah Naidu appealed to people to study, analyze and debate the Draft New Education Policy and not to come to hasty conclusions about it.

Observing that core issues of education were very important and deserve the attention of all stakeholders, the Vice President said that reducing the load of school bags, promoting sports, inculcating morals, scientific and rationale temperament, history and the contribution of the freedom fighters should become part of the curriculum.

Inaugurating a two-day conference on ‘Industry Academy Interaction for Improvement of Quality of Academics’ organized by the Indian Institute of Petroleum and Energy (IIPE) in Vishakhapatnam today, Venkaiah Naidu called for establishing a symbiotic relationship between academia and the industry to create an ecosystem for innovation to thrive and generate employment for the youth. For this to be achieved, he wanted the industry to play a more pro-active role and establish a strong organic link with the academic institutions.

The Vice-President asked the Industry and academia to look at long-term collaborations rather than join hands for limited purposes and one-off projects to promote the culture of research in a big way in our universities and other important academic institutions.

The Vice President suggested to the corporate entities to identify specific areas of interest and fund doctoral and post-doctoral research connected to them. He also urged them to set up a special corpus or fund for financing research projects that will lead to innovations, benefit the society and economy of the country.

Pointing out that many students passing out of the portals of higher education institutions were lacking employable skills, Shri Naidu said that organizations hiring the young graduates were forced to impart further on-the-job training for periods ranging from six months to one year.

Calling for a revamp of the education system so that the graduating students were fully equipped with skills to meet the needs of the industry or agriculture or have the aptitude and skills of a risk-taking entrepreneur, the Vice President said the students must not only be employable but also possess life skills, language skills, technological skills and entrepreneurial skills to enable them to be gainfully employed or self-employed.

Pointing out that the Indian universities did not figure in the top 100 ranking global universities, the Vice President urged universities and educationists to introspect and improve the standards.

Expressing his concern over instances of atrocities against women and gender discrimination, he said the education system should produce socially responsible citizens and called for bringing about a change in the mindset. Programmes like ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padao’ and Swachh Bharat should become people’s movements, he added.

Observing that India was once known as ‘Vishwaguru’, Shri Naidu said that India must once again become the global hub for knowledge and innovation.

Also Read: Focus on Research, Innovation: Venkaiah Naidu Asks Architects