At Jamia convocation, Dharmendra Pradhan invokes Dr Zakir Hussain to stress need for education

NEW DELHI: Education alone can preserve the old values and it gives the vision about which values are worth holding on to and which ones to let go of, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Sunday, invoking former president and Jamia Vice Chancellor Dr Zakir Hussain. Quoting a statement of Zakir Hussain at the Jamia Millia Islamia's (JMI) centenary year convocation, Pradhan said, "Education is the breath of our democratic life. Look upon education as the chief informative force of life. It is education that can give us a common vision of the future and generate in us the intellectual and moral energy. Education alone can preserve the old values worth preserving." "Zakir Husaain always said education gives us the vision about which old values are worth holding on to and which ones to let go of. Education alone can give new values to those striving for the future," he added.

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Addressing the students at the event, Pradhan said the university had a huge role in the freedom movement of the country and that it will hold the first position in providing intellectual leadership in the next 25 years. "Jamia was established to take the movement of our independence ahead. We have completed 75 years of independence and the leadership of Jamia had a huge contribution towards it. In the next 25 years of country's 'Amrit Kaal', I have no doubt that Jamia will hold the first position in providing intellectual leadership," he said.

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He further said India came up with its National Education Policy (NEP), 100 years after Jamia was founded and that the policy will help the university produce global intellectual citizens in the future. "Our country is in position today where we are taking to the responsibility to host G20 presidency and the Prime Minister said India will work as the bridge between the western world and the global south. And in that bridge, Jamia will act as one of the most important pillars. Jamia, via NEP, will produce global responsible citizens and I have no doubt in it," the Union Education Minister said.

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"We don't have to turn Jamia into a hospital; we will turn it into an urban research centre for global health problems and this should be all our commitment," he added. The JMI held its centenary year convocation on Sunday for students who passed in the academic years 2019 and 2020. Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar was also present at the convocation. Around 12,500 students including gold medallists who passed in 2019 and 2020 were awarded degrees and diplomas during the convocation.