Aligarh: Union minister Jitin Prasad on Saturday said he was in favour of establishing a centre of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) at Aligarh Muslim University.
Prasad, Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development, was addressing students here on the occasion of silver jubilee celebrations of the university`s Distance Education Centre.
The minister assured the AMU Vice Chancellor, Lt Gen (retd) Zameer Uddin Shah, that he would "favourably respond" to AMU`s request for establishing a Centre of the "Council for Scientific and Industrial Research` (CSIR) at AMU.
He said that AMU had a very important role in the task of "nation building" and he would "more than welcome" any important inputs from the AMU students on this score.
Prasad today said that distance education has a "very major role to play" in the future of the country`s education strategy.
The HRD Ministry was working on the task of a major expansion in the field of Distance Education in the country, he said.
The minister said that universities, like AMU, which already have an effective setup for managing Distance Education, would now be helped in the process of multiplying the number of their centres in different parts of the country.
He said that the Central Government was aware that the major need of the country today was to provide "Access, Equity and Quality" to the rapidly growing aspirations of the young India in the field of higher education.
Young India wants quality education at an "affordable cost". For millions of youth, who belong to the economically underprivileged sections, the need for "fair employment opportunities" after completing their higher education was paramount.
Distance Education has to cater to this essential demand, he said.
Prasad said that he had mooted a proposal for an "interactive session" for the students of Aligarh and other universities for helping the government to set up an effective "feedback system for drawing up the country`s future education policy".
The minister said it was of little use "if the country`s education policy does not reflect the aspirations of young India".
The minister also inaugurated an indoor badminton hall at the AMU sports complex.
PTI
