Prof Lama raises SU woes stemming from BSNL bottlenecks

Sam Pitroda, Advisor to the Prime Minister and Chairman of the National Knowledge Commission,
interacting with the Sikkim University VC, Prof. Mahendra P Lama.

300 VCs DELIBERATE ON ISSUES & CHALLENGES FACING UNIVERSITY AND SOCIETY INTERFACE
GANGTOK, 27 March: The 2-day conference of Vice Chancellors of Central and State Universities on theme, “University and Society: Issues and Challenges”, concluded at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi with the Union HRD Minister, Kapil Sibal, calling on Universities to promote secondary schools as they are the “key catchment area of the university system”, informs a press release received from the Sikkim University. Sikkim University Vice-Chancellor, Professor Mahendra P Lama, raised limitations, vis  a vis ICT-based teaching, suffered by SU due to the poor BSNL services here and also contributed ideas for the draft document prepared by the team on Research & Innovations, the release adds.
Over 300 VCs of state and central universities participated in the conference.

Since the source for the university system is the secondary schools system, there should be a uniform system in all secondary schools and entrance tests for admission into colleges and universities should be made common so that everyone receives the level of opportunities, the release explains.
While speaking at the valedictory session, Mr Sibal said that the real wealth of the nation lies in the ideas that are generated in the universities. The university system is at the centre of these ideas, he stressed, with industries and other such entities only translating the ideas that are already generated.
The conference was divided into eight crucial themes which included access, equity, engagement and outcome; content and quality; research and innovation; faculty development and inter-university resource sharing; internationalisation in higher education ; alternative modes of delivery of higher education; models of financing and good governance.
Advisor to the Prime Minister and the Chairman of the National Knowledge Commission, Sam Pitroda, in turn, mentioned that the role of the teacher will have to change from the traditional “creator of content and delivery in the classrooms” to a “more proactive mentor who will go to classrooms primarily for interactions, innovative thinking and practices”.
Prof. Lama raised the issue of how poor connectivity by the BSNL in Sikkim has adversely affected the entire ICT-based teaching and learning, the release informs.
He mentioned that the University and its affiliated colleges are not able to harness and make use of the facilities of 1 GB access extended by the Ministry of Human Resources because of this poor service.
Many of the suggestions he made have found place in the draft documents prepared by the team on Research and Innovations, informs the release.
His suggestions included: a conscious and substantive initiative must be designed and undertaken to address the issues of critical national importance like climate change, natural resources management, disaster management and national security, in a collective and integrated framework. This would call for strong and comprehensive collaborations among the national, regional and local institutions and a long-term and far-reaching intervention is required to transform the quality and scale of connectivity including broad band services that would reach the remotest geographical entity and educational institutions, mentions the release.