Rajeev Chandrasekhar outlined his ideas to turn Thiruvananthapuram not only into a hub for higher education, but also a knowledge city, points out Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
A confident and radiant Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate for the Lok Sabha, says that this is not a contest about sartorial elegance or sesquipedalian vocabulary, but about who among the three candidates has the track record and influence to deliver development, which has been denied to Thiruvananthapuram for fifteen years.
He goes on to say that he will promise only what he can deliver on the strength of his experience and expertise in modern technology, his deep involvement in policy making and implementation as a minister.
If elected, he will work tirelessly for his constituency and bring to it the best technology, highest investment and create an ecosystem of a new Kerala model of development.
He was speaking at a dialogue with educators, teachers and students in Thiruvananthapuram.
His audience, accustomed only to political speeches, were astonished that he spoke a different language, with well thought out plans for transforming Thiruvananthapuram into not only a well-endowed capital city, but also a hub of education, research and innovation.
Perhaps, for the first time, a candidate dedicated an interaction with a selected audience of educators, researchers, students and general public to hear them and to outline his own approach to the problems presented.
He explained the rationale of the NEP 2020 and outlined the problems in implementing it fully.
But the acceptance of reform is growing and even states like Kerala, which had apprehensions about some aspects of the policy, are coming around to accept notions like the four years degree course and the flexibility it affords to students in pursuing the courses of their choice by using credit banks.
Kerala has also embraced the concept of private universities, in a major change in policy.
Chandrasekhar outlined his ideas to turn Thiruvananthapuram not only into a hub for higher education, but also a knowledge city.
He pointed out that the city had a number of research institutions operating under various department and agencies of the central and state governments, which can be integrated into a major research university.
The city does not attract foreign students, though our graduates occupy very high positions in corporations in developed nations because of the poor infrastructure and low rankings in global assessments of their quality.
The new generation private universities in Delhi and other cities attract foreign faculty and students as they deliver quality education.
The sooner we permit private and foreign universities the better for Kerala.
Chandrasekhar sought the views of the cross section of the people who had gathered to hear him about the issue of early migration of students abroad.
An anguished mother spoke eloquently about her decision to let her young son to go to study in Georgia because of the violence in Kerala campuses.
She did not want her son to become another victim of student violence.
Others spoke of the low level of education and absence of employment opportunities.
Chandrasekhar expressed understanding of the problems of young students and the tendency of young people and their parents to seek safe havens abroad.
While migration is a natural phenomenon and people have moved to greener pastures for centuries, the present level of panic created by fear of uncertainty has to be tackled by structural reforms in our education system and a massive program for skill development.
He said that, if elected, he will devise a way in which student migration will become more balanced to benefit the students as well as the nation.
Rajeev Chandrasekhar said his vision for Thiruvananthapuram includes making it an education, research and innovation hub.
For this, there is a need to enhance collaboration between industry and academia.
He also announced that his aim is to initially elevate thirty schools in the city to exemplar schools and then all schools.
Our colleges and schools must have modern labs for experimental learning to be set up in collaboration with industry.
Our schools and colleges must be violence-free spaces for our younger generation to learn and not to be killed and intimidated through violence.
Our children will not need to pursue high quality education overseas.
He said that he will establish a global brand, 'Studied in Thiruvananthapuram' as a brand of pride for our students and parents.
He sought suggestions from the public on education to be included in a comprehensive document on development in Thiruvananthapuram to be released in a few days.
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com
