Public funding and equity key to balancing quality and access in education: N. Ram

The archetypal rule for reconciling excellence with entree successful the tract of acquisition is simply a robust committedness to nationalist funding, said N. Ram, erstwhile Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu, and Director of The Hindu Publishing Group.

Speaking astatine the inaugural ceremonial of Kristu Jayanti (deemed to beryllium university), which was accorded the presumption successful July 2025, Mr. Ram pointed retired that not capable investments are being made successful nationalist institutions of higher learning.  

Standardisation

Mr. Ram besides emphasised the value of differential organization missions to combat mediocrity. 

“You cannot usage the aforesaid exemplary everywhere. Today, successful the pursuit of unitariness, a definite standardisation is imposed which lone makes for mediocrity. There are authoritarian forces trying to enforce unitariness, sometimes done the UGC. I’ve seen it with Governors trying to usurp the powers of elected State governments. While it has happened before, present it’s happening connected a standard that is genuinely depressing,” helium said.  

Stressing connected the value of embedding equity into world design, helium noted that it shouldn’t beryllium constricted to reservations during admissions.  

“Reservation policies present to a ample extent, but world designs inactive look to enactment against providing existent opportunities for those who are first-generation learners oregon from marginalised and underprivileged backgrounds,” said Mr. Ram, who besides spoke astir the request for a pupil enactment model to code the hidden costs of education.  

AI reshaping education

Commenting connected the mode Artificial Intelligence is reshaping education, Mr. Ram said that alteration is happening astatine a velocity and extent that seems to beryllium antithetic from what erstwhile technological transformations brought about.  

While the exertion facilitates personalised learning astatine scale, world enactment and accessibility, probe acceleration, cognition find and administrative efficiency, it besides poses an contiguous hazard to world integrity, helium said.  

“The different hazard is intelligence dependency and there’s a information of cognitive atrophy. There’s besides the disapproval that since these ample connection models are trained connected existing data, they bespeak biases, inequality, and structural injustice. There are concerns astir information privateness and surveillance,” helium added. 

Mr. Ram pointed retired that researchers and module astatine the deemed to beryllium assemblage person the accidental to marque important contributions successful the rapidly processing tract earlier things spell retired of control.

Logo unveiled

Mr. Ram besides congratulated the officials of Kristu Jayanti for reconciling the pursuit of prime and excellence with being accessible and affordable. 

The inaugural ceremonial witnessed the ceremonial merchandise of the commemorative publication Luminescence – The Silver Journey of Kristu Jayanti, authored by Fr. Augustine George and Fr. Joshy Mathew. Mr. Ram unveiled the official assemblage logo astatine the event. 

“As we measurement into our assemblage status, we renew our resoluteness to signifier minds, animate values, and service nine done transformative education,” said Vice-Chancellor Fr. Augustine George.