CHENNAI: Governor Banwarilal Purohit said he was disturbed that sitting Vice-Chancellors and former Vice-Chancellors were being arrested for serious acts of graft and impropriety.Inaugurating a one-day conference on startup policy and skill development for employment, which was an initiative by State universities, at Anna University here on Tuesday, he said that it was a case of the ‘fence, that is meant to protect the crops, swallowing up the crops’.
If the ‘higher echelons of university and college managements’ did not practise ‘proper moral values,’ they would not be able to inculcate the lofty values in their students. “Vice-Chancellors and professors by their conduct should serve as a beacon to guide the younger generation on the right path so as to achieve the goal of progress and prosperity in society,” the Governor said.
Banwarilal emphasised that apart from the Vice-Chancellors and senior functionaries of all the state universities, Principals and students from nearly 1,000 colleges all over the State, he hoped that the message of the conference would spread far and wide so that startups and skill development would assume the form of a movement in Tamil Nadu.
“The universities of Tamil Nadu have about 8.86 lakh students passing out every year. It is, therefore, only appropriate that as a response to the clarion call given by the Prime Minister to promote startups and skill development in the country, the State universities and the Raj Bhavan Secretariat have taken the initiative to organise this conference,” he said.
However, he warned that a ‘mere design of policy’ would not be ‘sufficient.’ “It is necessary to adopt a syllabus which is relevant and purposeful,” he said.