Essay Competition on Saint Thiruvalluvar The University Grants Commission (UGC) has informed that it had issued a letter on 30th June, 2015 to the Vice-Chancellors of all universities, requesting the universities and affiliated colleges to organize essay competitions, seminars and debates based on the life and works of Shri Thiruvalluvar. The UGC has informed that four Universities and one College have indicating their interest in undertaking the activities in the UGC letter. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has incorporated messages of Shri Thiruvalluvar in textbook of Communicative Sanskrit, published by the Board, for Class X. The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has reported that it has published a supplementary reader entitled Thirukkural for students and teachers to assist activities taken under the History part of Social Science syllabus. Further, a detailed entry on Sangam Literature has been provided in a three-language Dictionary of Historical Terms of NCERT. These measures aim at spreading Thirukkurals messages among students for imbibing the values inherent in this text. Regarding Universities and Colleges, the UGC has already communicated to these institutions to take up various activities based on the life and works of Shri Thiruvalluvar. Universities may frame syllabi with the approval of their Academic Councils. This information was given by the Union Human Resource Development Minister, Smt. Smriti Irani in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha question.
