Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, August 7, 2015 : President Pranab Mukherjee has cut short his two-day visit to Odisha due to illness of his wife Surava, who has been hospitalized on Friday at New Delhi.

Mukherjee in the evening had offered his prayers at the Jagannath temple as per schedule.

Earlier in the day, Mukherjee inaugurated the golden jubilee celebrations of Rameswar High school in Khurda district.

Speaking on the occasion, the President said that he was happy to participate in the Golden Jubilee Celebrations of Rameswar High School. He fondly recollected the memories of Janaki Ballav Patnaik, who had asked him to attend the Golden Jubilee Celebration of this school. He said he was certainly missing the presence of Late Janaki Babu. Throughout his life, Patnaik continued his literary activities in addition to his political activities. The President said that his friendship with Janaki Ballav Patnaik grew in the fields of literature, art and philosophy in addition to that in the political sphere.

The President stated that Janaki Babu himself was a product of one of these schools in the village of Rameswar. He said that he was also told that because of Rameswar high school, education could be imparted to the girls of the area, including the minority girl students. The emphasis on creating an environment of greenery in the school reminded him of ancient India’s ‘Tapovan’ where ancient gurus taught in the midst of nature. The Golden Jubilee Celebration of the school is a befitting tribute to late Janaki Babu and his contribution in transforming the school.

The President said that education implies not just collection but assimilation of information to transform it into knowledge. He quoted Swami Vivekananda and said “Education is not the amount of information that we put into the brain………. We must have life building, man making, character making and assimilation of ideas. If you have assimilated five ideas and made them your life and character, you have more education than any man who has got by heart a whole library..”.

The President said that to reap the demographic dividend in India, the young population has to be skilled appropriately, so that the youth are ready to take up right jobs and contribute to the growth of the nation.

The President said that though we have reputed educational institutions, it is a matter of serious concern that none of them find a place in the global list of top 200 institutions. This is a gap which needs to be filled. If we begin from strengthening school education itself, we can fulfill this gap. He took the opportunity to exhort all the young minds present there to inculcate in themselves the spirit of innovation and research to expand their horizon of knowledge. This is necessary if we want to occupy our rightful place in the comity of nations.

Governor SC Jamir, School and Mass Education Minister Debi Prasad Mishra, Editor of Odia daily ‘Sambad’ Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, former MP and chairperson of National Commission for Women Jayanti Patnaik and former MLA Dillip Srichandan were also present on the occasion.

Mukherjeehe was on Saturday scheduled to inaugurate the second annual convocation of National Law University, Odisha (NLUO) in Cuttack and the all-India seminar on ‘Global Legal Education’ being organized by the Confederation of Indian Bar and Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology in Bhubaneswar.