Minister of Education Naeem Akhtar today said that the Government is committed to turn Kashmir into a hub of world class research with focused attention being given to upgradation of facilities in higher education.The Minister was today speaking at a function to inaugurate upgraded laboratories at Department of Botany, University of Kashmir by Union Minister of Human Resources Development Ms Smriti Irani via video conferencing. Minister of State for Education and Technical Education Ms Priya Sethi, Vice Chancellor, Prof Khurshid Andrabi, other officials and students attended the function. The two laboratories have been upgraded under RUSA at a cost of Rs 1.57 crore.Akhtar informed the Union Minister that the state Government has taken many initiatives to give a fillip to higher education in the state. He said that start of evening classes at KU has created 1500 new seats for students. He further added that there are other plans for academic and social intervention that will help in overall upgrading of facilities at the institutes of higher learning. He said that seeing their initiatives 25 scholars from USA have returned to Kashmir to pursue research and teach students here.
The Minister said that the up-gradation of these laboratories will be game changing for university and together with active help from Union Minister the state will be turned into a hub of world class research. “RUSA assistance will go a long way in strengthening the infrastructure for promoting research work of national and international significance in respective academic disciplines,” he said.The Union Minster said that such laboratories need active and continuous research utilization by the university. She said that internationalizing curriculum is also under active consideration and impetus will be given to local languages too.The Union Minister also interacted with students over various challenges facing the education sector.