Education in disarray

January 19: While accepting the Mumbai University degree of Doctor of Laws, eminent jurist Dr Nani A Palkhivala today commented that degrada...

January 19: While accepting the Mumbai University degree of Doctor of Laws, eminent jurist Dr Nani A Palkhivala today commented that degradation of moral, intellectual and cultural qualities has reached an all-time low in the 5000-year-old history of India.

On account of his ill health, Palkhivala remained seated on the dias. His address was read out by another speaker at the varsity convocation ceremony. The LLDs were conferred on both Palkhivala and Professor Man Mohan Sharma of the UDCT University Department of Chemical Technology at a ceremonial function by the Chancellor and Governor of Maharashtra Dr P C Alexander. The function was also attended by eminent personalities such as the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court, M B Shah.

8220;Education today is in a total disarray in our country, and even the minister of education is considered to be a minor cabinet post8230; The result is that India is being led by crass materialism; what we need is moral leadership founded on courage and intellectual integrity,8221; observed Palkhivala.

UDCT Director Prof M M Sharma, on the other hand, concentrated more on problems faced by engineering colleges. 8220;We are going to face a famine of teachers in engineering institutes if the government still fails to make teaching an attractive profession. Due importance is also not given to research in the field of technology, though UDCT is better off on account of its autonomous status and close links with the industry,8221; he said.

Severely criticising the government and the University Grants Commission for not providing adequate funds to engineering institutes, Professor Sharma requested industrialists to come forward with funds, and lauded the Mumbai University for giving functional autonomy to UDCT in 1994.

Both the LLD recipients maintained that only good and sound education can churn out the leaders of tomorrow.

In her citation, the Vice-Chancellor of Mumbai University, Dr Snehalata Deshmukh, described 78-year-old Palkhivala as a teacher par excellence, whose ideas have transcended the caste barrier to reach the common man. Dr Deshmukh called Prof Sharma a towering personality8217; amongst chemical engineers, whose contributions to the field of science is recognised the world over.