The Hindu : National : Kalam for education integrated with entrepreneurship

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jun 05, 2004

National

National

Kalam for education integrated with entrepreneurship

By Prafulla Das

SAMBALPUR (ORISSA), JUNE 4. The President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, said today that a multi-pronged strategy was needed to make education more attractive and simultaneously create employment potential to solve the unemployment problem.

In his address at the 21st Convocation of the Sambalpur University in Orissa's backward western region, Mr. Kalam said there had been substantial growth in higher education and the country was generating three million graduates every year and another seven million educated up to 10 or 10+2 level.

However, the employment generation system was not in a position to absorb the graduates passing out from the universities leading to increase in educated unemployed, year after year.

"This situation will lead to instability in the social structure. We need education integrated with an entrepreneurial spirit.''

He said the education system should highlight the importance of entrepreneurship and prepare the students right from school and college education to get oriented towards setting up of enterprises which will provide them creativity, freedom and ability to generate wealth.

Apart from entrepreneurship, the youth should have the "we can do it'' spirit.

The banking system should provide venture capital right from the village level to the prospective entrepreneurs for undertaking new enterprises.

"Banks have to be proactive to support the innovative products for enabling wealth generation by young entrepreneurs by setting aside the "conventional tangible asset syndrome." Definitely this involves a certain amount of calculated risks which can be eliminated by making an analysis of successful venture capital enterprises."

He said there was a need to identify marketable products and enhance purchasing power among the people.

"This can come through the implementation of mega programmes such as rural prosperity through connectivity, interlinking of rivers, infrastructure missions, power missions and tourism."

The universities of the country, he said, should become a facilitator for creating entrepreneurship schemes through the support of the banking system and the marketing system.

This was one way of reducing the employment gap and uplifting the 260 million people living below the poverty line.

The President stressed the need for wealth generation through bio-diversity. As India ranked among the top few nations having a rich bio-diversity, there was potential for developing multiple herbal products for nutrition, prevention and cure of diseases.

Similarly, the country had the potential for promoting floriculture and aquaculture. India must add to its technology for conversion of such resources to value-added products for use in domestic requirement and also for export.

Mr. Kalam called upon the youth to imbibe the quality of righteousness and develop an indomitable spirit to achieve success in their respective fields.

In his address, the Orissa Governor and Chancellor of the University, M.M. Rajendran, stressed the need for more and more refresher courses to provide state-of-the-art knowledge to the teachers in order to upgrade quality at all levels of education.

Mr. Rajendran gave away various degrees and medals to scholars and students.

The Vice-Chancellor, M.C. Dash, thanked the State Government for recommending Central University status.

The Chief Minister, Naveen Patnaik, and several top officials of the State attended.

Mr. Kalam inaugurated a herbal garden on the university campus located at Burla on the outskirts of Sambalpur town.

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