Special Convocation to Confer D.Litt Upon Professor Amartya Sen

Nksagar-Sagar Media inc: New Delhi: Special Convocation to Confer the Degree of Doctor of Literature Upon Professor Amartya Sen said India needs to provide its masses the basic privileges of quality education and healthcare.Skill education which is the core of India's development in this age needs to be given utmost priority to bring the nation at par with developed world.He quoted an example of Japan,the nation started nation wide campaign in 1890 to educate masses and in early 1916 the Japan achieved total literacy this model was followed by South Korea and their progress makes them the best progressive nations in the world.He added we must follow the model of such countries.India has to struggle hard and work better to achieve the equity parity. Professor Amartya Sen was conferred the Degree of Doctor of Literature, honoris causa, by the National University of Education Planning and Administration (NUEPA) at a ceremony held here today. Professor Amartya Sen is the Thomas W. Lamont University Professor and Professor of Economics and Philosophy, Harvard University, and the winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Economic Science. Professor Amartya Sen is the second recipient of the Honorary Doctorate conferred by the National University of Education Planning and Administration (NUEPA). Speaking on the occasion, Shri Kapil Sibal, Union Minister for Human Resource Development said that the Government is committed to giving access, equipment and quality as regards education to children. He said it will not be possible to achieve the inclusive growth which is central to the government policies if this commitment were not to be adhered to. He also said that in order to bridge the quality gaps in teaching, the government needs to lay down a fiber optic network for the country in two years, and also provide last mile broadband access. Speaking on the occasion, Professor Amartya Sen said that he feel very honoured and privileged to become associated with this University. Shri Sen said that “India does have many achievements in the success of a relatively small group of privileged people well trained in higher education and specialized expertise. Yet our educational system remains deeply unjust. Among other bad consequences, the low coverage and low quality of school education in India extracts a heavy price in the pattern of our economic development. The Indian economy may be doing much better than before in many different ways, and yet India is still paying quite a heavy price for having a far less educated general labour force (as opposed to the privileged people with special education and technical skill) than, say China.” He also said “India has great difficulty in competing in a whole range of simple products the making of which requires basic education (and an ability to follow written instruction of quality control), including elementary gadgets such as clocks and calculators, even computer hardware, in which China excels, and which were among the mainstays of the earlier “East Asian Miracle.