Lt Governor presides over the closing ceremony of the year-long Golden Jubilee celebrations of University of Jammu

JAMMU : Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha today presided over the closing ceremony of the year-long Golden Jubilee celebrations of the University of Jammu. On the occasion, he inaugurated 11 infrastructure projects worth Rs 43.91 crores at Main Campus & offsite campuses in Ramnagar, Reasi, and Kathua.

Speaking on the occasion, the Lt Governor lauded the University administration for achieving A+ grade in the recent NAAC report, besides congratulating the students, faculty members, and Vice Chancellor for the newly inaugurated infrastructure projects.

Laying stress on the dynamics of contemporary education ecosystem, the Lt Governor said that Universities and colleges can no longer afford to produce ordinary students. Teachers will have to continuously evolve new mechanisms to enrich the syllabus and students will have to learn things beyond the prescribed curriculum.

“The key driving force for the future is knowledge. The rate at which we can adapt new educational methods, new research programmes is increasing. The speed of scientific and technological innovations requires much faster, swifter adaptability from both- the teachers as well as students”, the Lt Governor asserted.

It is important to remember that Universities and Colleges have immense power and a small shift in curriculum can have a decisive impact on socio-economic environment, he added.

The Lt Governor noted that as J&K prepares for a new Industrial Revolution, our educational institutes need to churn out skilled Human Capital commensurate with the demand of the Industry. I urge the educators to analyze, adapt to changing dynamics, and fill the gaps to keep up with the ever-changing Education ecosystem.

“The New Education Policy calls upon educators to move beyond reading, writing & arithmetic and lay emphasis on the development of the future builders who affect positive changes in the society through innovation creativity, compassion, decency, and sensitivity”, he added.

The Lt Governor assured that the Jammu and Kashmir administration shall never allow shortage of resources for the development of educational institutes in the UT.

“Jammu and Kashmir UT is spending more money than other states of the country to nurture the talent of youth in both education and sports fields. Many of you will know that the budget of Jammu and Kashmir Youth Services and Sports this year is Rs 513 crore, relatively higher than several big states”, he added.

The Lt Governor underscored the need for future-oriented, value-based, and ambitious education system that enhances the dignity of personality. The future expects new thinking from the students, teachers and a vast improvement in the education system.

“It is very much possible to keep pace with rapidly evolving technologies in learning ecosystem and prepare the students of future armed with cognitive and hard skills. Teachers and students both should be willing to unlearn and relearn”, he urged.

The newly inaugurated buildings in the Main Campus included a Sports Hostel complex consisting of Basement, Ground Floor and First Floor with dormitories, rooms, washrooms, completed at the total cost of Rs. 3.47 Crores. The construction of Sports Hostel has made it possible for the University to organize big Inter College and Inter-Universities tournaments. In addition, a new building (G+2) for housing the Finance Wing has been constructed having Ground, first and second floor with the facilities of halls for the Accounts and Finance Sections, storerooms, rooms for Officers, Committee Room etc. The building has been completed at the total cost of Rs.1.35 crores with funding from RUSA.

In Kathua campus, inaugurated projects included an Academic Block (G+3), Boys Hostel (G+1) & Girls Hostel (G+1). The newly constructed Academic Block is well equipped with Computer Labs, Conference Hall, Classrooms, Seminar Hall, etc. The Academic Block, Boys Hostel and Girls Hostels have been completed at a total cost of Rs.10.6 Crore, Rs.4.9 Crore and Rs.4.8 Crore, respectively.

In Ramnagar Campus, the newly constructed Academic Block (G+1) is well equipped with faculty rooms, seminar hall, lecture halls, library hall, committee room, computer lab, Director’s room etc. and the Girls Hostel (G+1) is equipped with resident warden’s accommodation, common room, kitchen, dining room, reading rooms etc. The Boys Hostel (G+1) is equipped with resident kitchen, dining room, reading rooms etc. The Academic Block and Girls Hostel have been completed at a total cost of Rs.1.88 Crore, Rs.3.67 Crore respectively, and the Boys Hostel at the cost of Rs.3.77 Crore.

The University has completed the construction of three buildings at Reasi Campus viz. Academic Block and Girls Hostel and the Boys Hostel at village Jadh, Reasi. The newly constructed Academic Block has faculty rooms, seminar hall, lecture halls, library hall, committee room, computer lab, Director’s room etc. The Girls Hostel and Boys Hostel (G+1) have resident warden’s accommodation, common room, kitchen, dining room, reading rooms etc. The Academic Block, Boys Hostel, and Girls Hostel have been completed at a total cost of Rs.1.88 Crore, Rs.3.77 Crore and Rs.3.67 Crore respectively.

The construction of these buildings in the Offsite Campuses has been completed with the generous funding partly under PMRP Grant (Government of India) and Languishing Projects (Government of J&K).

The Lt Governor also unveiled the University’s Coffee Table Book- “Rich Past Vibrant Future” and released its Documentary “An educational Saga”, on the occasion.

Dr Arun Kumar Mehta, Chief Secretary on the occasion said that Jammu University is not only celebrating fifty golden years but heading towards the golden era. Jammu University has played a great role in shaping the future of many students but now it has a fundamental goal to introspect that how to reach the goal of shaping a golden future. Our educational institutes should ensure that they have to create milestones in finding solutions to the difficulties of the present era and upcoming years. The Universities of J&K UT now have ample developed Infrastructure; it is a need of the time to built teaching and intellectual infrastructure also.

Earlier, in his presentation, Prof Manoj K Dhar, Vice-Chancellor, University of Jammu highlighted the events held during the course of Golden Jubilee celebrations that include 60 workshops, 18 Conferences, 10 Seminars, 12 Faculty Development Programmes, 12 Benchmark series lectures of eminent academicians, 36 sports events and 52 cultural events. Prof Dhar also underlined that so far 129 Research Scholars were selected for RUSA Research Fellowship, access was provided to 1000 Research journals, several online databases, & e-books to research scholars and faculty.

Sh Chander Mohan Gupta, Mayor JMC; Sh Saraf Singh Nag, Chairman DDC Reasi; Vice-Chancellors of various Universities; Prof. R D Sharma, Former VC JU, HODs, senior faculty members and students of the university were present on the occasion

Sh Mukesh Singh, ADGP; Sh Raghav Langer, Divisional Commissioner Jammu; Sh Anshul Garg, Deputy Commissioner Jammu, besides senior officers from the Civil Administration were also present.