New Delhi: Real education is one which teaches respect for each other’s customs and culture, Union minister Prakash Javadekar said Wednesday even as he pressed for educating the girl child.
Inaugurating ‘Begum Hazarat Mahal Hostel’ for girl students at Jamia Millia Islamia here, the HRD minister emphasised on the need to boost research in various disciplines in the country.
“Our specialty is that everyone accepts each other’s customs and culture, respect each other and carry on with our traditions, which is what real education is. The education of different subjects happens in classrooms but this is the education for life,” he said.
Javadekar said all religions teach brotherhood, non-violence, truth and compassion for others.
“The aim of education is not just knowing about a few subjects but becoming good human beings,” he said.
Rooting for women’s education, Javadekar said that it was a great loss to humanity that women were not allowed to study for hundreds of years.
The BJP leader said that the Modi government has paid special emphasis on education of girls through its popular campaign of ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’.
Javadekar also told the students that the government has increased the supernumerary seats in technical colleges for students from Jammu and Kashmir from 2 to 10. He said despite the recent disturbances in the Valley, students have enthusiastically availed these scholarships, which would strengthen the unity of the country.
The Union HRD minister said that the British never focused on mass education during their rule in India. He said institutions like Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) and Jamia were started when Indians began focusing on education.
He also spoke about increasing the academia-industry collaboration in research and underlined his ministry’s programmes like Ucchattar Avishkar Yojana, Imprint and GIAN.
Jamia Vice-Chancellor Talat Ahmad said the university had started 15 courses in the last two years, including those on Sanskrit and Yoga. He also said the varsity was focusing on world class interdisciplinary research.
PTI