The Google search engine may offer answers to many questions asked by students, but it can never be a substitute for a guru (teacher), said Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday. He was addressing a meeting at the inauguration of the first two blocks of Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) at Inavolu in the Amravati region. “Unlike the ancient guru-shishya parampara wherein guru was a venerated person, the current age students get information they want at the click of a mouse.
Google search may be very informative but it can never be a substitute to your guru,” he said advising students never to forget their teachers.
He said education must result in emancipation, enlightenment, empowerment and empathy. “Employment comes later. The destiny of a country is shaped in the classroom,” he said citing the objectives of the Indian Education Commission, popularly known as Kothari Education Commission, set up in 1964.
He said people of the Andhra land were inherently talented. “Here, not only the lands, but the brains are also very fertile,” he said.
Heaping praise on the VIT management for creating a conducive ambiance on the campus, he said education should become a tool for social, cultural and economic transformation.
Stating that technology was changing at a rapid pace, he wanted students to keep pace with it. Universities across the country should strive to groom into centres of excellence and produce multi-skilled students, he said.
The Vice-President rued that not even one of the 760 universities in India had the wherewithal to compete with the world institutions in excellence and said there was a need for institutes of higher learning to raise standards, improve pedagogy, enhance research activities and form greater linkages with the industry to equip students to face the challenges of a globalised world. “With proper infrastructure, facilities and opportunities, our universities can excel,” he said.
He said the Centre and the States were unable to spend the stipulated 6 % of the GDP on education sector due to “other pressing needs.”
Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said education was Andhra Pradesh’s strength and none could beat the State in the Information Technology (IT).
He said with institutions like SRM, VIT and Amrita, Amravati would transform into an educational hub and AP would be a knowledge society. In the days to come, the VIT would branch out and include on its campus an assortment of disciplines like law, architecture and medicine.
Minister P. Pullarao, Kamineni Srinivas and Ayyanna Patrudu, MP C.M. Ramesh, AP Mahila Commission chairperson Nannapaneni Rajakumari, VIT Chancellor Viswanathan and others were present.