Mangaluru : Union HRD minister Prakash Javadekar on Wednesday inaugurated the modern sports complex of National Institute of Technology Karnataka, (NITK), Surathkal, in an online function from Shastri Bhavan, New Delhi. K Balaveera Reddy, chairman, board of governors, NITK, K Umamaheshwar Rao director, NITK, V S Ananthanarayana, deputy director, NITK, faculty and students, bore witness when Javadekar remotely inaugurated this facility.

This new sports complex will have facilities for playing badminton, cricket, table tennis, squash, yoga and many more activities, and I feel extremely happy to inaugurate this complex sitting in New Delhi with advanced technology, Javadekar said. He also congratulated NITK for being ranked among the top three among all NITs in India. The minister also lauded the faculty and students for its good performance in the National Institute Ranking Framework.

Javadekar also confirmed the sanctioning of a new Kendriya Vidyalaya on the NITK campus. This will be the third Central School aka KV under MHRD in this coastal city, to go with the two other KVs functioning at Panambur and Yekkur. He also mentioned that Indian youth are doing extremely well in latest technologies such as robotics, artificial intelligence and 3D printing, due to which Indian students have huge demand in the US market.

In his welcome address, Umamaheshwar Rao thanked MHRD for initiating higher education financing agency funding, Global Initiative of Academic Networks, SWAYAM, free online courses, and other programmes that the ministry has recently initiated. Ananthanarayana presented the vote of thanks. The new modern sports complex ,having an area of 94,700 square feet, has been constructed at a cost of about Rs 34.07 crore.