TEZPUR: Over 16 million children are not attending schools in the country and the government has taken all possible steps to make them literate within this decade, Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal on Friday said. "Globalisation has led to much improvement in the field of education and the country is ready to compete with the rest of the world, but we cannot ignore the many children who are still out of school," he said, addressing the 10th convocation of Tezpur Central University.
He asked students and academicians to create an atmosphere so that there is considerable progress in the field of science and technology. Referring to the north eastern region, he said it suffered a major setback due to terrorism, and education had lagged behind for several decades.
"It is also the responsibility of the educated to come forward and help in forming a new and progressive nation," he said. In recent times, women have made considerable strides in the field of education which is a positive sign, he said.
Assam Governor J B Patnaik, the Chancellor of the central university, said the institution has attempted to strike a balance between global expansion of knowledge and national and regional aspirations. Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi asked the students to work to change the society and also evolve a new technology to solve the flood and erosion problem caused by Brahmaputra river. In the convocation, the Governor presented degrees and diplomas to 1050 students of the university besides awarding doctorate degrees to 50 students.