Girls’ progress essential for India’s growth: President
Varsities have a role in preparing students for the challenges of 21st century, says Kovind
AGRA: President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday emphasised that the progress of girls was necessary for the growth of the nation and urged students to make good use of the opportunities offered and contribute to nation building.
“Universities have a role in preparing students for the challenges of the 21st century and students should also strive for learning something new throughout their life,” stated Kovind while addressing students during the 83rd convocation of Dr BR Ambedkar University of Agra.
The President was the chief guest for the occasion and had a journey down the memory lane while coming to the university of which he is an alumni. He studied at DAV College in Kanpur, which was affiliated to Agra University in 1967.
“Agra University has been contributing to education for 90 years. Before independence, it had about 108 affiliated colleges in the region from Lahore to Kolkata. Now, it has a student strength of seven lakh,” stated Ram Nath Kovind who also highlighted the contribution of another alumni of Agra University, Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyay towards social causes.
“Agra University has given two presidents and two PMs to the nation. Former President Late Dr SD Sharma, former Prime Ministers AB Vajpayee and Late Chaudhary Charan Singh were students of Agra University. National security advisor Ajit Doval, noted lawyer Tej Bahadur Sapru and hockey player Jagbir Singh were also students here,” he added.
Kovind justified renaming of Agra university after Dr BR Ambedkar who was lauded for his intelligence by professors at Columbia University where he studied. He asked students to draw inspiration from Dr Ambedkar.