St. Mary's College celebrates 59th College Day

"The youth should never end the learning process with their college days. They should constantly try to amass knowledge, information and wisdom for overall development," Cynthia Pandian, Vice-Chancellor, Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, has said.

She was speaking at the 59th College Day celebrations at St. Mary's College here on Wednesday.

Ms. Pandian said that there was a paradigm shift in the objective of education as the nation entered 21st century.

"While we were providing education to prepare students for economic growth in the last century, the focus had shifted to human development," she said. "Every individual should have the wealth of wisdom in him.

Students are now expected to `create' knowledge by synthesising and interpreting the information gathered through Internet and other mass media. Application of knowledge will give birth to wisdom," Ms. Pandian said.

Human development involves improvement of not only technical and manufacturing skills, but also soft skills such as communication, decision-making and problem solving.

Quoting Henry Ford, she said that those who quit learning would become "old," whether he was 20 or 80.

She called upon the students to think beyond geographical boundaries to make them better employable. "Never confine career options to the jurisdiction of a town or a State," Ms. Pandian said.

More women should take up higher education, which was a requirement for 70 per cent of the jobs available in the present day.

"At present, only 40 percent of girl students, who had completed higher secondary school education in the region, were found to have enrolled in colleges under M.S. University," she said.

As opportunities are plenty, it is a pity that only two per cent of women are placed in professional jobs.

Arulananda Mary, college Principal, spoke.

Source: The Hindu