Chief Minister wants his tenure to be a golden era for higher education

Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Monday said his government was taking several measures to improve the employability of youngsters.

Delivering his address at the 164th convocation of the University of Madras, he said many industrialists were of the opinion that it was difficult to find employable youngsters. "The government wanted to ensure that no youngster is without a job, and industries are able to find the right talent. The Naan Mudhalvan scheme is one such initiative," he said.

Noting that the Chief Ministership of K. Kamaraj was a golden era for school education, and that of M. Karunanidhi was a golden era for colleges, he said his government was planning initiatives to make the current dispensation's tenure the golden era for higher education.

Delivering the presidential address, Governor R.N. Ravi urged the Chief Minister to take measures to set up Chairs for Tamil language at universities in other States. There should be an endeavour to see to it that Tamil is introduced in the Madras High Court, he said.

He congratulated the graduands on receiving their degrees from one of the oldest universities, which had produced illustrious alumni. He said everyone should work towards restoring the university to its past glory. He appealed to students to take up research on the glorious past that India, particularly the Madras Presidency, had in all fields, including education, agriculture, industry and astronomy, and how these fields were systematically destroyed by the British.

He blamed Thomas Munro, one of the British Governors of Madras, for bringing vast quantities of land under the purview of taxation and, thereby, destroying many institutions that depended on the land. He said it was ironic that Chennai had a majestic statue of Munro, who "perhaps perpetrated one of the worst tragedies on the people of this State".

Higher Education Minister K. Ponmudy said that while Tamil Nadu had achieved greater heights in education, institutions like the University of Madras could achieve even more if education was brought under the State list of the Constitution.

University Vice-Chancellor S. Gowri listed the measures taken by the administration to promote Tamil, which included a new mandate that all research scholars must submit a summary of their dissertation in Tamil. He said the university was introducing "Social Justice" as an elective paper in undergraduate courses in its affiliated arts and science colleges from 2022-23.

A total of 931 people received their degrees in person, while another 1,40,731 received them in absentia. Those who received their PhDs included Secretary-III to Chief Minister M.S. Shanmugam, Secretary of Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly K. Srinivasan and former Higher Education Minister P. Palaniappan.