from Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Panaji (GA)

Panaji, Aug 25: The State needs an Institute of Management, IIT, or Centre of  excellence and not an upgraded central university, said Shantaram Naik, MP while speaking as a chief guest at the valedictory function of the seminar organized by Goa Education Development Corporation on the subject of proposed conversion of Goa University into Central University.

Naik further said that when the State was a union territory, it did not opt for Central University but went to establish a State University with an object of serving educational needs of Goans.  "We have to go a long way to fulfill those objectives which, hopefully Goa University will have to do in the years to come. If we opt for a central university, it will not be less cruel than a mother's action of selling her children being unable to feed them or handing them to a relative, for the same reason," he said.

Naik said that being a member of standing committee of the ministry of human resource development, he is aware that the University Grants Commission (UGC) itself  is in doldrums and that the Commission is 'crying' all the time that it has no teeth and it has become  helpless.

Naik said that a Central University by its very nature cannot look after the interest of locals and, in case they start doing so, the central authorities charge them of having lost their national character.  Naik said that some educationalists in Goa University who have no affinity to the Goan soil are trying to misguide the state government in a clandestine manner without coming in open.

Naik said that the State should think twice before handing over land worth crores of rupees to the central government. "We have bad experiences whenever such huge lands are transferred or are allowed to be used by Central government bodies," Naik added.

Naik said that a SSCE board, a medical college, engineering college, a State University etc. are basic features of a State and therefore, these institutions must be retained as such.

Presiding over the valedictory function, former union minister Ramakant Khalap said, 'We are entering into a global economy and that our educational standards have to match with the requirement of that economy."

Khalap said that the State should have a broader outlook and a broader vision in the field of higher education and therefore, these aspects must weigh in one's mind while deciding about the proposed central University.

Prof M V Kamat read out a summery of the entire day-long proceedings. Prof M K Shaikh, chairman of Goa Education Development Corporation proposed the vote of thanks.