Impart quality education: Jaitley

KURUKSHETRA (Haryana), NOV. 24. The Union Minister for Law, Justice and Company Affairs, Mr. Arun Jaitley, said here today that ``the 21st century is the century of knowledge and imparting quality education is the biggest challenge to the society.''

Delivering the convocation address at the 24th annual convocation of the Kurukshetra University, Mr. Jaitley said the Constitution might be amended to give the right to primary education up to 14 years of age the status of a fundamental right.

While congratulating students on whom the degrees were conferred, the Union Minister asked them to strive hard to excel in life. He cautioned that at times when people become highly educated or fall in the category of elites in our country they get dissociated themselves from the basic feelings of the society and values of the nation.

The degree of Ll.D. Honoris Causa was conferred on Mr. Jaitley by the University Chancellor, Mr. Babu Parmanand, for his outstanding academic merit, legal foresight and selfless service, especially in containing corruption and crime.

Mr. Jaitley is the seventh person to get the Honoris Causa in the 45 years long history of this university. The Haryana Chief Minister, Mr. Om Prakash Chautala, gave away medals and certificates of honour to outstanding students of the university.

Speaking about the encouraging role played by media in the United States after the September 11 terrorist attacks on that country, Mr. Jaitley said Indian media could play an equally significant role in changing such a feeling among the people but it had not done so. However, educational institutions could make a vital contribution in this direction, he added.

Mr. Jaitley attributed the success of Indian engineers of information technology in the world to the setting up of Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) long ago in the country. Had the IITs not been set up at that time, the Indians would not have been able to make their mark in the silicon valley.

He said the measures of success of an educational institute had changed with the passage of time and now these call for improving the quality of education.

He cautioned the people against the divisive forces and the war of one against the other which was `being waged to the teeth' and said there was a dire need to raise our vision beyond history, space, time and origin of narrow boundaries to discover super temporal nature of man.

Degrees were conferred on 1234 students. While degrees of Ph.D. and M.Phil were conferred by the university Chancellor, post graduate degrees including Ll.B. were conferred by the Vice- Chancellor, Mr. R. S. Chaudhary.

The Chancellor of Kurukshetra University, Mr. Babu Parnanand, conferring the honorary doctorate degree on the Union Law Minister, Mr. Arun Jaitley, at the convocation of the university on Saturday. The Haryana Chief Minister, Mr. Om Prakash Chautala, is also seen.

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