THANJAVUR: The National Education Policy (NEP) is a road map to create global citizenship in the 21st century, said Union Minister for Education Dharmendra Pradhan here on Sunday.
Delivering the 36th convocation address of SASTRA, Pradhan, who is also the union minister for skill development and entrepreneurship, said, “The single important feature of NEP is (teaching through) one’s own language, the local language.” Critical thinking will emerge by imparting education through the mother tongue, he said, and added that all languages are national languages, which the NEP promoted.
NEP also emphasises employability, he said, adding that its features included research, employability and creating global citizenship. He appealed to the graduating students to create a new model of development based on sustainability as the “industrial revolutions so far have been madness”. “In the name of growth and development we are destroying our climate,” he said.
As many as 4,100 graduands, including 72 PhD scholars, were awarded their degree during the convocation. The minister also conferred the Doctor of Science (honoris causa) on Professor Krishnaswami Alladi of University of Florida and the Doctor of Letters (honoris causa) on Chamu Krishna Shastry, the chairman of Bharatiya Bhasha Samiti.