Higher education institutions should develop innovative ways to combat COVID-19: Assam Governor

GUWAHATI: Assam Governor Jagdish Mukhi has said that higher education institutions should develop innovative ways to combat the novel Coronavirus and its various mutations which have dealt a severe blow to both the health and wealth of humans. Addressing the second convocation of Bodoland University at Kokrajhar on Tuesday, the Governor appealed to both the teaching and student fraternity of the university to work out an interface between the regional and global ideas to develop an innovative approach to combat the pandemic.

"You just cannot localize everything, if you want to deactivate the virus that has taken a huge toll on human life. Your work is to receive the global knowledge and make use of it for the benefit of the region. Unless you do that, you will not be in a position to develop yourself and the region", he said.

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The governor asked the teaching fraternity of Bodoland University to work assiduously to promote the university and to look for ways and means to forge academic collaboration from the best foreign universities.

The university can be accessed by students, both national and international, due to its strategic location and requested stakeholders to assess the development of the university and prepare a blueprint for its further development. He said that while preparing the future roadmap, care should be taken to create adequate space for the university to take care of old people, women, children, differently-abled, transgender and backward classes of society. He also asked Bodoland University fraternity to use the university as a launchpad for individual development which will lead to societal development.

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The governor also said that the students of Bodoland University should take the lead in drafting an action plan for societal development and should empower the society at large to fight against the menace of witch hunting in BTR areas and elsewhere.

Assam has achieved tremendous success in vaccination against Coronavirus but still there are small pockets where people are reluctant to get vaccinated and "so I urge the university students to generate awareness to bring all sections of the people under the vaccination programme to enable the society in general to build herd immunity against the virus," he said.

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Vice-Chancellor of Visva Bharati University Prof Bidyut Chakrabarty, Vice-Chancellor of Bodoland University Prof Laishram Ladu Singh, Chief Executive Member of Bodoland Territorial Council Pramod Boro, faculty members, students and a host of dignitaries were present on the occasion. Later the Governor also unveiled a statue of Mahatma Gandhi at M G Park in Kokrajhar Town.