World can be changed through education

DAINIK NATION BUREAU

Governor Dr KK Paul said today that education was the key to social change and the world can be changed through education. He said that modern education should be linked to our ancient ideals and traditions. The Governor was addressing the seventh convocation of the Uttarakhand Sanskrit University.

The Governor said that more efforts were needed to make the university as centre for excellence. Focus should be on skill development, research and innovation. Only then would the Sanskrit university become a centre for excellence as the Nalanda and Takshashila universities were.

The Governor congratulated the recipients of degrees and hoped that they would set new standards in the world. He said that this university was making consistent efforts to conserve and enrich the Devbhasha Sanskrit. This language was at the heart of various philosophical works and spiritual and literary texts. He said Sanskrit united our country and was a bridge between the north and the south. It is the mother of many ancient and modern languages. It s known as “Dev Vaani” due to its richness of sound and uniqueness of pronunciation.

The Sanskrit universities of today were Gurukuls of modern India where there were modern manifestations of the ancient traditions. Thus they have the responsibility of conserving our ancient culture and traditions.
Vedic literature has been the base for many branches of knowledge like Vedic Mathematics and grammar. India gave the world the concept of zero on which modern science is based. Panini’s grammar and Ayurveda also belong to ancient India and have contributed to world knowledge.

The Governor said that ancient texts of Ayurveda like Charak Sahinta were significant besides many philosophical works in Sanskrit. He said that Sanskrit needed to be seen through a new perspective today .Many efforts must be made to preserve and nurture it. It should be linked to modern knowledge and science. “The Dev Bhasha needs to be made a Jan Bhasha”.

Uttarakhand had a deep connection with Sanskrit. The courses at the Sanskrit university must be such that they would help preserve the ancient traditions as well as link the language to the modern world. He expressed happiness at the fact that the university now had a Yog Vigyan Bhawan, an auditorium and a digital library building. Alongwith IIT, Roorkee, the Sanskrit University was running three online programmes under MOOC .

In film making programmes in Sanskrit, the university had signed MoUs with Indira Gandhi Kala Kendra and N.A.D. He said that by adopting five villages in remote and backward areas, the university was promoting Sanskrit,Yoga , Beti Bachao, Beti padhao, cashless transactions and Swachh Bharat mission.