By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 30 Aug: Former Chief Minister and former Union Education Minister and currently Haridwar MP, Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ held a discussion with Australian High Commissioner Barry O’ Farrell here on Monday.
Barry O’ Farrell, who was in Dehradun, had invited Dr Nishank for a discussion on the New Education Policy 2020 (NEP-2020) and various other areas of mutual interest. The Australian High Commissioner appreciated the New Education Policy and described it as innovative and of high quality and expressed the hope that it would usher in a new era of educational reforms with a focus on quality, innovation and technology. Farrell also expressed confidence that, as a result of the New Education Policy, cooperation in the education sector between India and Australia would increase manifold.
The High Commissioner thanked Nishank for his role and extraordinary contribution towards the recognition of each other’s degrees by both the countries. He also highlighted Nishank’s efforts on successfully connecting crores of students in India with online education during the Covid crisis. Farrell also observed that Nishank had worked hard to strengthen India-Australia education partnership through the ‘GIAN SPARC’ schemes. The Australian High Commissioner stressed on increasing cooperation between Uttarakhand and various states of Australia.
Nishank expressed happiness that that the New Education Policy is being appreciated all over the world, including Australia. He invited Australia to cooperate and invest in Uttarakhand in the fields of environment, biotechnology, tourism, medical tourism, Ayurveda products and pharma. Nishank emphasised that Uttarakhand is the capital of Yoga, Ayurveda and Spirituality in the world. He also stressed on doing joint research projects in the fields of biodiversity, climate change, herbs and animal husbandry. He further appreciated the excellent work done by Australia in the field of skill development. The Haridwar MP observed that Australia has cutting-edge technology and its expertise could go a long way in generating employment in the state.
The Australian High Commissioner also invited Nishank to visit Australia.
