Southern States - Tamil Nadu-Chennai

Take to teaching, graduates told

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI Feb. 27. More young graduates should take teaching as a profession and seek careers in fundamental sciences, V. N. Rajasekaran Pillai, Director, National Assessment and Accreditation Council, said yesterday.

Emphasising that a teacher in higher education had more autonomy at work than any other profession could offer, Prof. Pillai said the education system needed to attract young and dedicated people into the teaching profession. For this, colleges and universities should turn into active centres which would use knowledge rightly and make the ``seats of individual competition to centres of service in meeting national and social needs''...they should foster creativity and autonomy, he said, delivering the convocation address at Ethiraj College for Women here.

No one could take away the autonomy of a teacher to innovate or even do away with anything irrelevant in the curriculum. ``If a teacher does not utilise the autonomy, either as a lecturer, a principal, a vice-chancellor or even as an educational administrator, someone else will take away the teacher's autonomy and then there is no point in clamouring later...'', Dr.Pillai said.

The emphasis on technology and professional educational courses should not take away the importance of fundamental science learning. ``What we need is the understanding of how to apply the acquired knowledge to life in any situation,'' he said. The principal, Indhrani Sridharan, said the college students had this year won 101 university ranks, including seven in PG courses. The College Trust Chairman, Justice S. Jagadeesan, was among those present.

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