The 9th Convocation of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) saw the Vice-President of India, Shri C. P. Radhakrishnan, address the students and exhort them to use their talents for serving the nation. He addressed the students on the birth anniversary of the great son of Mother India, Sri Swami Vivekananda, and stated that education should go beyond academic degrees and halls of learning to emphasize character development, intellectual prowess, and individual independence.
The Vice-President stated that achieving success for the Viksit Bharat @2047 vision is inextricably linked with the quality of education and training being imparted to the youth of our country. The vice-president referred to Nalanda and Takshashila universities and literary masterworks such as the Upanishads, Arthashastra, and Thirukkural from our civilizational past and emphasized that learning has always been the bedrock of our moral and societal order.
One of the major highlights of this address was the complementarity of modern science and traditional values. While appreciating JNU’s democratic ethos in which debate, dissent, and confrontation are fostered, the vice-president said that these must conclude in constructive fashion. Furthermore, the effective administration of decisions requires joint cooperation.
The vice-president appreciated the commitment to equity and social inclusion and highlighted the university’s initiatives with regard to admissions as well as recruitment and then went on to express his support for broadened horizons through centers for Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist studies, along with Indian languages like Tamil, Assamese, and Odia, which are very much in line with the National Education Policy aimed at the creation of knowledge in the mother tongue.
Closing, he urged the graduating class with these three major duties: honesty of intellect in seeking the truth, social inclusion, and national development through active contributions.
He ended by telling the students to respect their parents and teachers, be aware of the constitution, and uphold civilization’s ethical standards.
