Eminent physicist Prof Kl Chopra on Saturday said higher education should be given equal importance with primary education and the objective should be to ensure that the purpose of learning is to grasp the nuances as to how to live with each other in the society.
“Universities, which only teach, are dead or dying,” he said while emphasising on the need to modify the education system so that people can relate to physics.
Prof Chopra was speaking as the chief guest at a two-day national seminar on “Recent trends in condensed matter physics” organised by the Department of Physics of the ITER here. The seminar coincided with the 31st annual convention of the Odisha Physical Society (OPS).
Prof Pratibha Jolly, Principal of Miranda House, New Delhi, underscored the need for sustainable changes for education as the learning process has to be more collaborative enabling students to take charge of their own destiny.
A number of eminent scientists including Prof SD Mahanti of Michigan State University, US, Prof S Shankar of Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai, Prof C Jacob of IIT, Kharagpur, Prof SM Bhattacharjee of Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar, Prof VRK Murthy of IIT, Chennai and Dr Chandana Rath of IIT, Bhubaneswar would be speaking at different sessions during the seminar.
Seminar convenor Prof PC Dash said 93 research articles have been received for presentation at the event. Six prominent teachers were felicitated by the OPS for their contributions to physics on the occasion. Besides, two young teachers were presented with the young scientist award.OPS president Prof Kalpana Manjari Das presided over the programme.