Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the country’s students should work towards building a self-reliant India. He said that by the time India celebrates its 100th Independence day, the nation would also be celebrating the efforts of the students who would be graduating now.

“The universities of future will be entirely virtual and students from any part of the world would be able to study anywhere at anytime,” Modi addressing students and faculty at the 18th convocation of Tezpur University in Assam.

“We need to have a regulatory framework for such transformation and we are continuously trying to achieve that goal with the New Education Policy. The NEP 2020 aims at a flexible and interdisciplinary education system,” he said. The NEP focuses on data and analytics. It has the power to improve the admission, teaching, and evaluation system,” he added in the virtual address.

Referring to the incubation centre of the university and innovative technologies emerging out of it, Modi told students that they have great opportunities ahead of them. “Your efforts tell that you have potential,” said the Prime Minister. He also applauded the efforts of varsity in the documentation of tribal languages and culture, waste energy among others.

“During the freedom struggle, many brave hearts from Assam have given their lives now you have to live for the AtmaNirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India),” Modi told graduating students asking them to spread the tej (light) of Tezpur University across the nation and the world.

In this pandemic circumstances, the AtmaNirbhar Bharat programme has become a nomenclature in our dictionary but we need to understand what is this change brought by the initiative, said Modi. The biggest change is of perspective – the attitude of the entire nation has changed, said Modi.

Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, and Tezpur Lok Sabha MP Pallab Lochan Das also attended the convocation.

Citing the Indian cricket team’s recent win against Australia, the Prime Minister said the youth needs to take inspiration from them. “The young team was inexperienced and injured, but that didn’t deter their determination and beat one of the best teams in the world,” he mentioned. A total of 1,218 students received their degrees and diplomas in the convocation.