At a recent gathering of Tamil Nadu state and private university vice-chancellors, Governor Ravi emphasized the need for attracting investments and revamping the education system. The conference, focused on translating higher education textbooks into Tamil, took place at Raj Bhavan, Nilgiris.
Governor Ravi inaugurated the conference on 5 June 2023, highlighting the rapid advancements in technology, particularly since the Second World War. With the increased demand for computer education and the influx of multinational companies into India, the governor stressed the importance of adapting education to align with emerging AI technologies.
Governor Ravi raised concerns about the current job market, where Diploma/ITI polytechnic students often earn higher salaries than engineering graduates. The telling lack of employability among the educated youth was something Governor Ravi pointed out. He also mentioned that to address this issue, translating existing technical educational material from English to Tamil/mother tongue is a step towards aiding students and also aligns with the education systems of countries like China and Japan, which prioritize education in their respective languages.
The Governor spoke about the National Education Policy 2020 which has given more emphasis than the previous policy to strengthen the curriculum aided by ancient Indian wisdom, heritage, and culture. He said it is a visionary document for comprehensive and multi-dimensional education and preparation of the youth for the future. He also mentioned that the NEP 2020 has given more importance to digital and online education. Encouraging a research environment to increase employability to bridge the gap between skills rather than knowledge alone is vital, the Governor said. The Governor also mentioned that India is home to the top three startups in the world, India is the most digitized country in the world and he believes that India is the future destination for this transformation for countries to relocate their manufacturing. However, he cautioned that foreign investments cannot be attracted merely by requesting or meeting with business people.
“In our state we have to create more and more environment to attract more and more of them. Investors will not come just because we ask them or we go and have talk. They are hard bargainer. In our country there are many states which are doing it. Haryana is having FDI equivalent to our state. We have to create the ecosystem for Global Giants for which essential element is to create competent, appropriately
skilled human resources only then we will avail ourselves of the advantage of this opportunity.” Governor Ravi said.
It is to be noted that Governor RN Ravi has been continuously voicing out about the demerits of the current education system.
Professor Sreenivasan of the Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Party explains what the Governor exactly said at the event in the below interview:
Befitting response to DMK and Congress from @ProfessorBJP pic.twitter.com/OAKwoz6fvZ
— Sriram Seshadri Iyengar 🇮🇳 (@Isriramseshadri) June 6, 2023
However, this speech made by the Governor has been misconstrued as always by the local media, political commentators, and members of the DMK party and government saying that the Governor is accusing the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister of going on foreign trips just for leisure.
Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Thennarasu accused the governor of indirectly criticizing Chief Minister MK Stalin’s recent foreign visit by referring to Governor Ravi’s statement.
வெளிநாடு சென்று முதலீட்டை ஈர்க்கும் செயல்பாட்டை பிரதமர் நரேந்திர மோடி குஜராத் முதலமைச்சராக இருந்த போது மேற்கொண்டுள்ளார். ஆளுநர் ஆர்.என். ரவியின் கருத்து பாஜகவையும், பிஜேபியையும் பார்த்து கேட்பதாக உள்ளது.
– அமைச்சர் திரு @TThenarasu அவர்கள். pic.twitter.com/k63H0PrH3m
— DMK IT WING (@DMKITwing) June 6, 2023
“It is not acceptable for the Governor to talk about the Chief Minister’s foreign trip. Our demand is that the governor should not do politics. DMK will not hesitate to fight against the Governor if necessary,” Thangam Thennarasu stated.
He also went on to say, “Prime Minister Modi also travels abroad often, does the Governor criticise any of that? When PM Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat, he travelled to several countries seeking investments,”.
Along with him, DMK IT Wing secretary, TRB Rajaa went on to write a long-winding post on Twitter without a basic understanding of what the Governor spoke at the event in the first place.
The Hon'ble Governor needs to rethink his observations about Tamil Nadu's thriving business climate !
While we are open to receive views, thoughts and advices we only wish he wasn’t offering this stale advice to the state of Tamil Nadu, which has the largest number of factories… https://t.co/2GfdHKL5v3
— Dr. T R B Rajaa (@TRBRajaa) June 6, 2023
Following suit, we also spotted self-proclaimed “neutral” political commentator, Sumanth Raman also made the following Twitter post without understanding the context of Governor Ravi’s speech and it seemed as if he was following the narrative set by the DMK members.
Governor commenting derisively on a CM's foreign visit is just not done. This Govt will do well to ignore the man but they keep playing blow hot-blow cold with him.
— Sumanth Raman (@sumanthraman) June 6, 2023
Click here to subscribe to The Commune on Telegram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.