The students of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, were in a celebration mode as Myanmar’s pro-democracy leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi interacted with them on Saturday.
“I am totally in love with her and Suu Kyi is an awesome personality,” said an ecstatic Essa Mahapatro, a postgraduate student.
“Commitment is the only quality to fight for a cause is a beautiful message for all the students. It is a proud moment for all students to have interacted with Suu Kyi,” she noted.
Speaking about the current situation in Myanmar, Kesang Choden Bhutia, another postgraduate student, opined, “The fight for total democracy is still on in Burma. In the field of education, enormous improvement needs to be done. With a leader like Suu Kyi one can hope for significant changes.”
Abhijeet, another student pointed out, “There are foreign students exchange programmes which can help students to pursue higher education particularly in science.”
“The country is in transition phase politically with just about 20-30 seats. One has to wait and watch the growth and development of Burma. The military regime’s grip has to loosen and it will boost their progress and with a promising leader like Suu Kyi, the same can be expected.”
Prof P Balaram, Director, Indian Institute of Science, who was happy that a Nobel laureate interacted with students, said, “Education in Myanmar needs to be developed at all levels and higher education needs to be built in progressive manner as it is in the early stages,” he observed.
Prof Balaram said, as of now, there are no details about any kind of association for scientific research with Myanmar.
“However, it is purely at the discretion of the Union government,” Prof Balaram observed.