STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: The inaugural lecture by Padma Shri Prof Dinesh Singh, former Vice-Chancellor, University of Delhi, Chancellor K.R Mangalam University and Vice-Chairman, Jammu and Kashmir Higher Education Council on ‘Innovation in the Context of University Education”, Thursday has marked the beginning of Amrit Kaal Trans-disciplinary lecture series organized by University of Jammu.
In a comprehensive inaugural lecture, Prof Dinesh emphasized upon the need to break the shackles of academic slavery in order to make this nation rise.
“I insist all the students not to run after marks, which are actually an outcome of non-creative, memorization paste and note learning procedure of exams,” said Prof Dinesh adding that students should not get into this process, instead focus on creativity and innovative approaches.
He said that people in India often give examples of the Harvard and Cambridge models of education, but it is surprising that these institutions do not have a concept of the topper. “I want you all to think about this, so that shackles of academic slavery could be broken and the nation can rise,” Prof Singh said and added that everyone here must concentrate on the content and not the form. The content should be innovative and creative instead of boring and irrelevant.
He said that innovation is newness. “If you already know the outcome, then it cannot be innovation. Innovation must have an element of surprise, boldness and experimentation,” he said and added that innovation calls for exploring and creativity.
Explaining innovation with local instances, Prof Dinesh said that this University campus has a close relation with the Tawi River, as it touches the boundaries of the University.
“I don’t know whether any student, scholar or teacher has ever done any analysis of the river, despite being so close to it. You all have witnessed the rise and receding of water in this river, but you never analyzed it,” he said and added that this river provided an opportunity to analyze what kind of organisms live in this river and during which season and what are the various mineral contents found in this river.
Invoking great Indian minds, Prof Dinesh said that Chanakya used statistical data and his wisdom for research is still in relevance for modern big data applications, as it enables to analyze statistical data in an empirical manner.
Quoting Rabindranath Tagore, Prof Singh also emphasized that education should not be confined to the four walls of the classroom.
Prof Naresh Padha-Dean Academic Affairs extended a formal vote of thanks whereas Dr Garima Gupta-Assistant Dean Students Welfare conducted the proceedings of the event. Prominent among others Prof Bechan Lal- Vice Chancellor Cluster University of Jammu, Sh Mukesh Singh-ADGP Jammu, Prof Rajnikant-DRS, Prof Neelu Rohmetra-Director DDE, Prof Meena Sharma-Dean Planning, Prof Arvind Jasrotia-Registrar, Dr Meenakshi Kilam-Rector Kathua Campus, Vivek Gupta-DIG Traffic, Prof Rajiv Rattan, Director, CDC, Dr Jatinder Khajuria-Registrar Cluster University Jammu, Prof Pankaj Srivastava-President JUTA and Office Bearers, Sanjeev Mahajan-Controller of Examinations, Deans, faculty members, officers, Scholars, students of University and affiliated Colleges were also present on the occasion.
