TN Governor calls for making available quality education

Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit on Thursday said education was a powerful instrument for reducing poverty and inequality and stressed the need to focus on access and availability of quality education through technology.

India held an important place in global education and has one of the largest networks of higher education institutions in the world with 993 universities and 39,931 colleges, he said while inaugurating "Chancellor's Vision 2030 Innovating Education in the Era of Industry 4.0", a two-day meet.

Tamil Nadu enjoys a covetous reputation for higher education in the country with a gross enrollment ratio of 48.6 per cent compared to a national average of 25.8 per cent and the state has 59 universities and about 8.64 lakhs students passing out every year, he added.

Purohit said the spurt of internet and the telecommunication industry in the 1990s revolutionised the way people connected and exchanged information.

"It also resulted in paradigm changes in the manufacturing industry and traditional production operations, through merger of boundaries of the physical and the virtual world," he added.

He also urged the participating vice-chancellors to not only to benefit from the deliberations at the conference but also formulate a most pragmatic education model to meet challenges of the fourth industrial revolution.

"We should implement the model in our universities and carry the message across the academic fora, so that we assume the primacy of 'educational institutions enabled for the era industry 4.0' in India," he said.