KURUKSHETRA, Sep 6 : University Grants Commission (UGC) Chairman Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar on Friday said like Lord Krishna’s guidance to Arjuna in the Gita, great teaching involves giving students the freedom to think, question, and make their own decisions.
Kumar was the chief guest at the 17th Goyal Award ceremony organised by Kurukshetra University in the Senate Hall here.
Goyal Awards were instituted by late Ram S Goyal, an NRI settled in the US, in 1990, to honour scientists for their exceptional work.
Addressing the gathering at the event, Kumar highlighted that the teachings from the land of the Gita embody the essence of great teaching.
“At the start of Mahabharata, Lord Krishna says to Arjuna, I have told you everything you needed to know about but now you decide what you want to do,” Kumar said, citing the holy scripture.
“This is what a great teacher does to the students. They give the students the freedom to think and the freedom to question and know themselves and the world around them,” he added.
He also said that “students should never become conformists, but keep questioning, challenging what you feel an accepted fact”.
The UGC chairman said India has huge talent, and young people are our asset.
More than 10 per cent of CEOs of multi-national companies are headed by people coming from the Indian education system. It is one of the biggest education systems. But, we have still to improve and reform the system so that over 50 per cent of the companies are headed by Indians, he noted.
On this occasion, the Vice-Chancellor of Kurukshetra University and chairman of the Goyal Award Organizing Committee Som Nath Sachdeva, during his address, said scientists make people’s lives better in a meaningful and measurable way with their brilliant scientific research.
Sachdeva also announced that the Goyal Peace Prize will be awarded shortly to ISRO Chairman S Somnath.
Sachdeva proposed to the scientists of Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru that Kurukshetra University is ready to allocate 100 acres of land if the institute plans to set up a science research centre in Haryana.
Professor S P Singh, co-chairman of the Goyal Award Organizing Committee, said the Goyal Awards have been recognising substantial research by scientists since 1992.
Bhim Singh, Professor Emeritus, IIT Delhi, professor Santanu Bhattacharya of IISC, Bengaluru, professor V. Nagaraja of Department of Microbiological and Cell Biology, IISc, Bengaluru, and professor S K Satheesh of Centre for Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, IISc, Bengaluru were awarded the Goyal Awards for the year 2021-22 by Kurukshetra University. Each of them received a medal, a citation and a cash prize of Rs 2 lakh.
Four scientists of the country, who are below 45 years of age, were awarded the Rajib Goyal Prize for young scientists, namely professor Saptarshi Basu of Department of Mechanical Engineering, Bengaluru (Applied Sciences), professor Sebastian C Peter of Jawaharlal Nehru Centre For Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bengaluru (Chemical Sciences), professor Bushra Ateeq of Department of Biological Sciences and Bioengineering, IIT Kanpur (Life Sciences) and professor Sanjib Kumar Agarwalla of Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar. (PTI )
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