New Delhi
The Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said the professors of the Indira Gandhi National Open University are like Lord Hanuman. They are unaware of the powers they have and how it can change society. He further added that their work needs to be celebrated.
Pradhan was addressing the 35th convocation of the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) on Tuesday. A total of 2,91,588 students, the highest ever, received their degrees and diplomas across the country at the convocation ceremony. Addressing the students & faculty members, Pradhan said, “I am here as a student. Being a student is a mental state, a condition, it is a mindset. Wherever, whomever, whatsoever, if you are open to learn, you are a student,” the minister said.
Pradhan said he was a student leader and has now become the education minister. Recalling his time as a student, he said in the late 1980s and early 1990s, there were protests against the Mandal Commission report and no convocation was held.
He said he always wished that he should have also got his degree at a convocation ceremony and this was a memorable event for him.
He said all the IGNOU professors, including those associated with the university’s regional centres across the country, possess the qualities of the “Anjani Putra” (Lord Hanuman).
“Hanuman is known to have saved society and become the voice of the downtrodden. He did not realise the kind of powers he possessed and sometimes, he had to be told about his immense powers. You are Hanuman. You do not realise what you have done. Let us celebrate what you have done,” the minister said.
He urged the degree holders to share a minute-long testimonial about the university on Facebook to celebrate the work of the faculty and the university.
The education minister also said whatever the IGNOU has been doing since its inception in 1985 has now become the National Education Policy and is being implemented across the country.
