PM Narendra Modi to address centenary celebrations of Visva-Bharati University on Thursday

Visva-Bharati is the oldest central university in India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the centenary celebrations of the Visva-Bharati University, Shantiniketan, on Thursday through video conferencing, the PMO said on Tuesday. The West Bengal governor and Union Education Minister will also be present during the ceremony, it said.

PM Modi's address will start at 11 am. "Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will address the centenary celebrations of the Visva-Bharati University, Shantiniketan on 24th December 2020 at 11 AM via video conferencing. The Governor of West Bengal and Union Education Minister will also be present on the occasion," said the official release.

Founded by Rabindranath Tagore in 1921, Visva-Bharati is the oldest central university in the country. Tagore, a Nobel laureate, is one of the most revered icons from West Bengal, a state which will go to the assembly polls in the first half of 2021.

In May 1951, Visva-Bharati was declared to be a Central University and "an institution of national importance" by an Act of Parliament, the PMO noted.

The university followed the pedagogy devised by Tagore, though gradually it evolved in the format in which modern universities developed elsewhere. The prime minister is the chancellor of the university.