A two-day national conference on "Quality concerns in teacher education" being organised by the Punjabi University's department of education and community service, got underway in the university's senate hall here on Thursday.
Terming education as an essential indicator of overall
development of any society, vice-chancellor Jaspal Singh said, "The main objective of imparting real education during the contemporary period is to produce thinking people."
"A real teacher is the one who could identify the aptitude and locate and nourish the hidden talent of a student," he added.
Political stability or progress of any kind, social or economic, was not possible without education, the V-C said.
Director, education, IGNOU, New Delhi, MC Sharma, observed that many teachers were suffering from "technophobia" with quick changes in technology and upgrade of knowledge changing the entire scenario of education.
Advocating the cause of learner-centered education, he said innovations in curriculum, relevant to the present times, were the need of the hour.
Laying emphasis on the need of "qualitative expansion" in terms of opening new education colleges, Dr JA Khan, dean, colleges, Punjabi University, expressed concern over some of the colleges ignoring the need of appointing principals.
He hinted at levelling harsh penalties if such colleges do not adhere to the norms fixed by the university to be followed by them.