Teacher-politician Hari Babu likely to play key role in streamlining education system in Odisha

Bhubaneswar: A qualified engineer with a PhD and a teacher in Andhra University Engineering College for 24 years, newly-appointed Governor of Odisha Dr. Hari Babu Kambhampati has had a long political career to boot. As a teacher having decades of experience in education system, Odisha expects his active involvement in streamlining education system in the State.

While the education system in Odisha has crumbled due to large-scale vacancies of teachers and non-teaching staff, and lack of infrastructure, the State is yet to implement the National Education Policy (NEP)-2020. The new BJP Government in Odisha has declared to implement the NEP-2020 in all state-run universities and affiliated colleges from the current academic year and in schools from 2025 academic session. But the policy is yet to be implemented in universities and affiliated colleges in true letter and spirit due to lack of manpower and infrastructure.

Hopefully, Dr. Hari Babu as a Chancellor of universities will address these issues.

The 71-year-old Mizoram Governor who will replace Raghubar Das had joined student politics in 1972. He was arrested under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) during Emergency and imprisoned for six months.

Hari Babu, who holds a PhD degree in Control Systems, became a state executive member of Janata Party in 1977 and worked in different capacities till the formation of BJP in 1980. He became general secretary of the Andhra Pradesh BJP in 1993 and continued till 2003.

He tasted his first electoral success in 1999 when he was elected to Andhra Pradesh Assembly from Visakhapatnam. He was also appointed a member of the task force constituted by the NDA government led by then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee for interlinking of rivers during 2003-2004.

His political graph rose when he was appointed as one of the national secretaries of the BJP in 2005. He was elected to the Lok Sabha from Visakhapatnam parliamentary constituency in 2014. He served as Andhra Pradesh unit of BJP president from 2014-2018 before being appointed Mizoram Governor in 2021.