President, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam's address at the 88th convocation  held on March 3, 2006.

Evolution of Enlightened Citizenship:

"I am delighted to participate in the Convocation of Banaras Hindu University in this holy city. My greetings to the Vice Chancellor,Faculty members, students, staff and distinguished invitees. I congratulate the students for their academic performance and staff for shaping the young minds.When I am with you, I would like to recall my last visit to the Banaras Hindu University in the year 1991 when I was the Director,DRDL, Hyderabad, to deliver the Convocation address at the Institute of Technology of BHU. During the function the Chancellor of the University, the then Maharaja of Banaras, His Excellency Shri Vibhuthi  Narayan Singh introduced me to the audience stating that I have come to the land of Ganges at Kasi from Rameswaram Agniteertam. 

There is a beautiful spiritual connectivity of Kasi-Rameswaram. Again, I am very happy to be with you today.I am inspired to be in the land of Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya a great educationist and freedom fighter, who founded this institution with a great vision. As you all are aware, this institution was conceived and established in 1916 when the British ruled us and we can imagine the challenges faced by Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya in creating this  institution. He is a man of indomitable spirit that is how that this great institution has become a shining star in the galaxies of the universities. This is a unique university for multi-disciplinary study; it has agriculture with vast farms, medical college with big hospital, having the disciplines of science, humanities, engineering including mining with many faculties and departments. Since I am in the University environment, I would like to discuss with you about the role of university in capacity building among our youth.

Capacity Building:

A good educational model is the need of the hour to ensure that the students grow to contribute towards thedevelopment of the nation. Can we sow the seeds of capacity building among the students? There will be continuous innovation during the learning process. To realize this,special capacities are required to be built in education system for nurturing the students. The capacities which are required to be built are research and enquiry, creativity and innovation, use of high technology, entrepreneurial and moral leadership.

Research and enquiry:

The 21st century is about the management of all the knowledge and information we have generated and the value addition we bring to it. We must give our students the skills with which they find a way through the sea of knowledge that we have created and continue with life long learning. Today, we have the ability, through technology, to really and truly teach ourselves to become the life-long learners. This is required for sustained economic development.

Creativity and innovation:

The management of knowledge in the 21st century is beyond the capacity of a single individual. The amount of information that we have around is overwhelming. The management of knowledge therefore must move out of the realm of the individual and shift into the realm of the networked groups. The students must learn how to manage knowledge collectively. When the information is networked the power and utility of the information grows as square as stated by Metcalfe's law. Information that is static does not grow. In the new digital economy information that is circulated creates innovation and contributes to national wealth.

Capacity to use high technology:

Every student in our college should learn to know how to use the latest technologies for aiding his or her learning process. Universities should equip themselves with adequate computing equipment, laboratory equipments, and Internet facilities and provide an environment for the students to enhance their learning ability. In the midst of all the technological innovations and revolutions we cannot think that the role of the teachers will be diminished. In fact the teacher will become even more important and  the whole world of education will become teacher assisted and would help in "tele-porting" the best teacher to every nook and corner of the country and propagate the knowledge.

Entrepreneurship:

The aptitude for entrepreneurship should be cultivated right from the beginning and in the university environment.We must teach our students to take calculated risks for the sake of larger gain, but within the ethos of good business. They should also cultivate a disposition to do things right. This capacity will enable them to take up challenging tasks later.

Moral leadership:

Moral leadership involves two aspects. First it requires the ability to have compelling and powerful dreams or visions of human betterment. Moral leadership requires a disposition to do the right thing and influence others also to do right things.

In sum, inquiry, creativity, technology, entrepreneurial and moral leadership are the five capacities required to be built through the education process. If we develop in all our students these five capacities, we will produce "Autonomous Learner" a self-directed, self controlled, lifelong learner who will have the capacity to both,respect authority and at the same time is capable of questioning authority, in an appropriate manner. These are the leaders who would work together as a "Self-organizing Network" and transform any State as a prosperous State. The most important part of the education is to imbibe the confidence among the students is the spirit of "we can do it". These capacities will enable the students to meet the challenges of our national mission of transforming the nation into a developed  country by 2020. The education system in the university must aim togenerate large number of entrepreneurs apart from those students who have an aptitude towards research.