Dharamsala, May 6 (IANS): Believing that the creativity and imagination of the students take flight if they learn independently and without any stress, President Droupadi Murmu on Monday addressed the seventh convocation of the Central University of Himachal Pradesh.
She said that change is the law of nature but the pace of change was not so rapid in the past.
“Today we are in the era of the fourth industrial revolution. New areas like artificial intelligence and machine learning are emerging rapidly. Both the speed and magnitude of change are very high due to which technology and required skills are changing very quickly. At the beginning of the 21st century, no one knew what kind of skills people would need in the next 20 or 25 years,” the President said.
She said that similarly, many current skills will no longer be useful in the future.
“Therefore, we have to continuously adopt new skills. Our focus should be on developing flexible minds so that the young generation can keep pace with the rapid changes taking place. We have to strengthen the curiosity and the desire to learn in the students to prepare them for facing the challenges of the 21st century.”
Addressing the teachers, the President said that education should be such that along with educating the students, it makes them self-reliant and builds their character and personality.
“The aim of education is also to bring awareness among the students about their culture, tradition and civilisation.”
She stressed that the role of teachers is very important. “Their scope of work is not limited to teaching only, and they have the huge responsibility of building the future of the nation.”
She underlined that when students learn independently without any stress their creativity and imagination take flight. “In that case, they do not consider education as just a synonym for livelihood. Rather, they innovate, find solutions to problems, and learn with curiosity.”
Addressing the students, the President said every person has the potential for both good and evil. She advised them to keep in mind that no matter how difficult the situation they are in, they should never let evil dominate them. They should always take the side of good.
President Murmu on May 4 reached the Himachal Pradesh capital for a five-day visit.
The President will be staying at Rashtrapati Niwas in Charabra, on the outskirts of Shimla.