Daijiworld Media Network – Udupi (NR) 
Pics: Hemanath Padubidri
 
Udupi, Mar 15: The 15th National Conference of Indian Colleges (NCIC) forum a national organization for degree college principals was held at Poornaprajna college in Udupi on Friday, March 14. The theme of the conference was 'Education, Economy and Sustainable Development'.

After formally inaugurating the forum prof M I Savadatti, former vice-chancellor of Mangalore University and former member of University Grants Commission lamenting the state of education in the country opined that education today become more money-oriented and less talent-oriented. "Our education system is syllabus-oriented and we have ended up only scoring marks in examinations. Our attitude toward the wrong value system has to undergo a thorough change," he rued further. 

Speaking before a huge gathering of principals from across the country and other erudite scholars, Prof Savadatti opined that education has to be in the centre, with economy and development on both sides. Continuous development can take place only if there is equitable growth and distribution cannot ignore the poor. He said "Money does not make people the best, only education can make them the best."

In this context he urged  principals of the colleges to play a vital role at this point, who in his opinion were the role models. According to him they should inspire students and society around them and should preach and practise "values of life" to the student fraternity. He lauded the efforts of Indian Colleges' Forum and its president G D Sharma, for having organised the national programme in Udupi, which is far from the state and national capital. 
 
In his presidential address prof. K M Kaveriappa, VC, Mangalore University, declared eruditely that the wealth of the country is judged by the strength of its human resource. Since obtaining Independence, he informed we have had tremendous growth in number of educational institutions in the country. From 20 universities we have grown to 400 universities, and 500 colleges to 20,000 colleges.  

However, he lamented the fact that enrolment to university and higher education from the age group of 15 to 23 years is only 9 per cent, which is a very poor figure compared with Western countries. He advised "The very important task we confront is to retain the best talents in teaching profession and attract youngsters to the teaching line, only then can we improve the quality of higher education." 
 
Another speaker prof G D Sharma, president, Indian Colleges' Forum and former secretary of UGC, opined that the future of any country depends on investing more on education. Education and economy are closely linked and we must strive to get them closer for the development of the country. Only by linking education with economy can we achieve sustainable development, he pointed out.
 
Also on the occasion were present prof. B K Tyagi, K Srihari, prof Sripathi Tantri, Y Bhaskar Shetty, G S Chandrashekar, prof Rajmohan, coordinator of ICF conference.