The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated the Bicentenary celebrations of Hindu School today (January 20, 2017) in Kolkata.

Speaking on the occasion, the President said West Bengal has 27 universities today as compared to his student days when there were only two universities. Though great progress has been made in expanding higher education, there is need for improving the standard of education imparted in these institutions.

The President stressed the need to enhance the importance of research and innovation in higher education and said only out-of-the-box thinking will lead to rapid development in the future. He pointed out that although considerable physical infrastructure has been created for higher education, none have won a Nobel Prize for research work in India since Sir C.V. Raman’s work undertaken in the University of Calcutta in 1931. He called for creation from the school level of an ecosystem that nurtures research and innovation.

The President said the Hindu School and Presidency College not only produced numerous successful students over the past 200 years, but also inspired the Bengal Renaissance. Most luminaries of the period from Kolkata and surrounding region were attached to either of these two institutions. Remarking that the British colonial rulers had founded educational institutions and started imparting western education to create clerks and lower level officials who could carry out administrative works, the President said the alumni of the Hindu School succeeded in changing for the better the very system of society and education that created them. He urged all those associated with the iconic school to realise the unfinished dreams of its past students by working to create better educational facilities.

This release issued at 2255 hrs.