Delivering 24th Prof. G Ram Reddy Memorial
He also highlighted Prof. G Ram Reddy’s role in building institutions of excellence in higher education including IGNOU. Remembering Prof. Reddy’s contribution, he quoted then Education Minister, Dr. K.C. Pant’s statement on the floor of the parliament that Prof. Ram Reddy, an eminent educationist who was responsible for the establishment of Andhra Pardesh Open University is most suited for the establishment of national Open University in the country.
While explaining the philosophy of Open Learning, Prof. Chauhan said that it promotes all the forms of learning, i.e., formal, non-formal and informal learning. And informal learning can be understood from the perspective of non-formal education and is imperative for the development of a diverse nation like India as it facilitates flexible and open-ended system that is accessible to all sections of the society, he elaborated.
Lauding University’s role in democratizing higher education, he said that IGNOU plays wide horizon of roles and responsibilities through tailor-made Undergraduate and Post Graduate programmes helping national integration through integrated development by offering skill development , training, competence enhancement, flexible and open learning systems, and accessible to the inaccessible .
Welcoming the Chief Guest Prof. D.S. Chuhan, Prof. Ngeshwar Rao, VC IGNOU, other dignitaries at the dais, and the audience in the Baba Saheb Ambedkar Convention Center, IGNOU Prof. C.R.K. Murthy, Chairman of the Organizing Committee said that we celebrate this occasion to remember and to pay our gratitude to our founding Vice-Chancellor, Prof. G. Ram Reddy and also get rejuvenated and inspired to even achieve higher goals as envisioned by him.
Prof. Ravindra R. Kanahere, Pro-VC IGNOU detailed the programme proceedings and also gave an introduction about Prof. D.S. Chauhan, the Chief Guest and the main speaker of the occasion. While paying tribute to Prof. G Ram Reddy, he said that bringing about a change is not easy and that is what Prof. G Ram Reddy did by changing conventional education to distance education in higher education space.
Prof. Nageshwar Rao, Vice-Chancellor IGNOU in his presidential address paid homage to the founding Vice Chancellor of India Gandhi National Open University Prof G. Ram Reddy and also expressed his gratitude to Mrs. Promila Reddy, wife of Prof. G. Ram Reddy for having come for the memorial lecture. He also thanked Prof. D.S. Chauhan for giving such an insightful lecture on the topic. Paying tribute to Prof. G Ram Reddy, Prof. Rao said the seed sown by him has grown in to a big tree and it is because of Prof. Reddy’s vision that this great institution has stood test of the times and would stand tall in the coming years as well and we continue to draw inspiration from our founding Vice-Chancellor. The learner-centric philosophy as envisioned by our founding Vice-Chancellor has been our guiding principle with access, equity and quality as the three pillars, is our focus.
The university celebrates 2nd July every year in the memory of the founding Vice Chancellor of the university Prof. G. Ram Reddy and invites eminent educationists and scholars to deliver lecture on higher education especially in the Open & Distance Learning domain.
An exhibition depicting life and work of Prof. G Ram Reddy was also displayed at the convention center. A film on the life of Prof. G Ram Reddy, “Down the Memory Lane” was also shown produced by Electronic Media Production Center, IGNOU.
Dr. V.B. Negi, Registrar IGNOU proposed the vote of thanks.The proceeding of the function was web-broadcast live to all the regional centers of IGNOU across India and was also broadcast through GyanDarshan channel reaching all across the world.
