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| Chief minister Tarun Gogoi confers a D.Litt to Asha S. Kanwar at the convocation of Krishna Kanta Handiqui State Open University in Guwahati on Saturday. Picture by UB Photos |
Guwahati, Sept. 27: Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi today pushed for introduction of courses on climate change and flood management in universities in the state.
“In this age of science and technology, more and more institutions should come up with programmes on science and technology to cater to the needs of the new age. This is particularly relevant to the state of Assam which is riddled with problems like flood, erosion, environmental degradation and consequent pressure on habitable land,” Gogoi said while speaking at the first convocation of the Krishna Kanta Handiqui State Open University here. Gogoi said the state universities would have to introduce full-fledged graduate and post-graduate courses on subjects like floods, erosions and weather changes for the future generation.
He said the universities have great responsibilities towards society and the people look up to these institutions to come up with solutions for various challenges and problems of modern time. He hoped the open university would be able to meet people’s expectations.
Established in 2005, KKHSOU started functioning from December 2006, as the 14th open university in the country and the only state open university in the Northeast. Speaking on the occasion, vice-chancellor Srinath Baruah said the first ever convocation of the university is being held when KKHSOU is poised to make giant strides towards achieving excellence in diverse fields.
During the convocation, degrees were conferred on 14,940 graduates in BA, BCom, BCA, BBA and bachelor of mass communication.
Two jail inmates were also conferred degrees during the convocation for completing bachelor programmes through distance learning under the university from prisons. A total of 54 post-graduate diploma holders were also given certificates.
The university conferred DLitt (honoris causa) on Asha Singh Kanwar, president and CEO of Commonwealth of Learning, Vancouver, for her contributions in the field of education, particularly in distance education.
Flood scene: The flood situation in Assam remained grim after fresh heavy rainfall in Meghalaya’s Garo hills and Goalpara district of Assam. An alert of heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places in Meghalaya and neighbouring states was announced by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), reports our special correspondent from Delhi. Thirteen NDRF teams are at work in Assam and Meghalaya.