Education is most powerful tool of change: Kerala governor at DU seminar

NEW DELHI: Education is the most powerful tool of change and the knowledge acquired through it brings out the capability to maintain the inherent unity and the feeling of oneness amongst Indians amidst a ''superficial diversity'', Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan said on Saturday.

"Despite the long period of slavery, India has been able to save and protect its wisdom of ancient times,'' he said at a seminar organised by the University of Delhi (DU) here. Khan said it is education that brings in knowledge and it is the knowledge that makes an individual a human in the real sense.

"Right from times of (Swami) Vivekananda and (Rabindranath) Tagore, our ethos and guiding principles, reflective of our cultural background, have been pointing to the idea of an inclusive India. Pleasure is not the core of life, but the goal of life is the pursuit of knowledge," he said. India has been a living example of a continuing civilisation, where our culture and ethos are ageing, but not getting old, he stressed.

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"It is through knowledge alone that capability comes of maintaining the inherent unity, the feeling of oneness amongst Indians, amidst, a superficial diversity. It is our ability to learn from the past and adapt ourselves to the future that makes our civilisation continuous," he noted. Khan was the chief guest at the valedictory ceremony of the 3-day seminar.

The governor said that realisation of renunciation and service to humanity only comes through knowledge and learning is the one who has the true meaning of these values. As part of the centenary celebrations, the international seminar on Revisiting Ideas from 'Swaraj' to 'New India' is being organised by the Department of Political Science, University of Delhi.

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Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, President of ICCR was present as the special guest at the valedictory ceremony of the seminar, while the function was presided by the vice-chancellor of the University Yogesh Singh. "It is the educational institutions and the universities, which shall, through intensive research, be the creators of technology, as it is the technology that alone has the potential to make India a Vishwa Guru, as is the dream and focus of all Indians today," the VC said in his address.