Sunday, May 02, 2010
“Work hard for four years to have a happy life for 40 years”

Madurai: The Vice-Chancellor of Anna University, P. Mannar Jawahar, on Saturday urged parents to allow their children take independent decisions with regard to their courses and careers.

“Parents should only guide the children but not compel them. Out of anxiety, the parents tend to put pressure on their children and that should not happen. Allow them to study what they like and what they want,” he advised. Speaking at ‘The Hindu Education Plus Career Fair 2010' here, Dr. Jawahar stressed that “decision making should be done only by students and not anybody else. Only if they study what they like, they will be doing well in college.”

Broad choice
Stating that the final decision should be taken by the concerned student, he said that parents should not get disappointed during admission time and confuse them. He had suggested to the students to have a broad choice of colleges/courses “and not to have any doubts once they join a college.”

The Vice-Chancellor said that a total of 51 courses were being offered in engineering colleges in the State and many opportunities were available in emerging areas. Before deciding on a college, student should know when the college was started, whether there was adequate infrastructure and about the campus recruitment happening there.”

Dr. Jawahar asked students to put in four years of hard work while studying in an engineering college so as to enjoy 40 years of happy life later. He spoke on the importance of developing self-confidence, communication skills, leadership, team building, assertiveness, creativity and problem-solving skills. Later, the Vice-Chancellor replied to questions asked by students and parents.