CHENNAI: G Viswanathan, founder of Vellore Institute of Technology, on Wednesday urged the New Education Policy committee, headed by Kasturi Rangan, to outline the role of private higher educational institutions and their contribution to the country’s students, in its report expected in April.
He was speaking at a function organised to unveil a statue of former Chief Minister M G Ramachandran (MGR) by the Vice-President of Mauritius Paramasivum Pillai Vyapoory at VIT’s Chennai Campus. The statue was unveiled to mark MGR’s birth anniversary. The function was attended by owners of private higher educational institutions in the city,
Attributing Tamil Nadu’s rise to the top in “private education” to MGR, he urged the State and Centre to encourage private players in higher education to avoid lagging behind global leaders such as South Korea, Japan and China.“The quality will go up and the cost will go down if the government promotes a healthy competition between private players,” he said.
AC Shanmugam, Chancellor of MGR Educational and Research Institute, recalled instances where MGR’s reading of the educational sector was ahead of his times. “When we were MLAs in his government, we used to ask for arts colleges in our areas but he asked us to start professional colleges instead,” he said.
Mariazeena Johnson, Pro-chancellor of Sathyabama University, pointed out that respect and hard work were two qualities which fuelled MGR’s political success. He suggested exclusive college courses for politicians in the near future. Paramasivum Pillai Vyapoory, who unveiled the 309-kg, 7.9 foot bronze statue of MGR pointed out the world-wide popularity of MGR. He extended welcome to Indian educational institutions to set up campuses in Mauritius.
“Mauritius is the gateway to Africa,” he said, observing that India and Mauritius could mutually benefit in higher education. The event was attended among others by Ashok Verghese, Director of Hindustan Group of Institutions, Ishari K Ganesh, founder of Vels University, V R Venkatachalam, Chancellor of Sri Ramachandra Medical College and Research Institute and N M Veeraiyan, founder of Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences.