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Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal has praised the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) saying it's progressing steadily in various fields. The minister, while addressing the online seminar on 'National Education Policy-2020', hailed the Vice Chancellor Prof. Tariq Mansoor for his hard and dedicated efforts to improve the university in all spheres of academic activities and improving its image in India and abroad.

“NEP will transform India as it connects the past with the future and focuses on leading India to the top," he said, adding that it's based on concepts of equity, quality and accessibility. “It's aimed to bring India's diverse nature in terms of regional languages with the benefit of providing primary education in mother tongue. It will not only focus on building the capacity of students, but also of teachers and institutions. We have received several lakh of suggestions for the NEP and we are open to hearing more from the people of the country," he said.
"If you look at the NEP from a wider horizon, the policy is as national as it is international. It is impactful, inclusive and interactive," he added.
The minister also emphasised that NEP 2020 is designed to enable students to study one or more specialized areas of interest at a deep level, and also develop character, scientific temper, creativity, the spirit of service, and 21st-century capabilities across a range of disciplines including sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities, among others.

The function also marked releasing of the book 'Physics of Neutrino Interactions' (Cambridge University Press) authored by Prof M Sajjad Athar and Prof S K Singh.  The book is an advanced text on neutrino physics, giving a pedagogical description of the neutrino, its properties, the standard model of electroweak interactions, and neutrino scattering from leptons and nucleons.

Prof D P Singh, chairman of University Grants Commission (UGC), said that the policy has the potential to bring large-scale transformational reforms in school and higher education sector.

Prof Singh added that the policy was built on the principle that education must develop not only cognitive capacities-both the foundational capacities of literacy and numeracy and the higher order cognitive capacities such as critical thinking and problem solving, but also social, ethical and emotional capacities and dispositions.     

He pointed out that the new policy will establish multidisciplinary universities and colleges and promote institutional autonomy at academic and administrative levels.

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Congratulating Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal for receiving the Vatayan Lifetime Achievement Award for his exemplary contribution in the field of Literature, AMU Vice Chancellor, Prof Tariq Mansoor said that credit for NEP 2020 goes to the Education Minister, who has brought people of various backgrounds and political denominations on a common platform with the consensus on NEP 2020.

He added that Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal had demonstrated remarkable leadership to keep the education system functioning during the pandemic.

"The UGC and the Education Minister have successfully managed to save the academic year despite the surge in Covid cases bringing all countries to a halt," he said.

"AMU is doing trials of Covaxin of Bharat Biotech. Academic and economic activities will be restored after the vaccinations to stop the coronavirus spread begin," he added.

In the first technical session, Prof Qazi Mazhar Ali, Dean, Faculty of Science explained the need of the New Education Policy; while Prof Nasrin, Chairperson, Department of Education did a presentation of education from the preparatory stage, middle and senior school to higher learning.

AMU Registrar, Mr Abdul Hamid (IPS) also attended the online programme. Prof M Sajjad Athar extended the vote of thanks.