Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on Saturday hailed the Catholic educational institutions for making a difference in the lives of millions of young Indians.
He was delivering the inaugural address at the Xavier Board of Higher Education in India XXIV Triennial Conference at Saint Joseph Vaz Spiritual Renewal Centre on Saturday.
Recollecting the formative influence of the Church-run institutions had on his father and former Lok Sabha Speaker late PA Sangma, Conrad Sangma applauded the Christian educational institutions for the key role they play in the human resource development in India.
“The challenge today is to develop our educational institutions into centres of excellence in innovation,” said Sangma, while requesting Catholic institutions to play a leading role in this transformation.
Archbishop of Nagpur Elias Gonsalves highlighted the present-day challenges facing Christian educational institutions while offering words of blessing to the conference. Transport Minister Mauvin Godinho released the conference brochure.
Earlier, Dr Lancelot D’Cruz SJ from St Xavier’s College welcomed the gathering and Fr Antony Vacko Arackal, National President of Xavier Board of Higher Education in India, delivered the Presidential address.
Dr Fr Joji Reddy (National Vice President), Sr Teresa (Secretary General, Xavier Board) and Fr Stephen Alathara (Deputy Secretary, Conference of Catholic Bishops of India) were also on the dais.
The XB Triennial Conference is being attended by 331 delegates representing more than 200 Catholic Institutions of Higher Education from all over India.
More than 1,000 MoUs for academic collaboration are expected to be signed between these institutions at the three-day conference, which will conclude on Monday.
