“Very special day for our education sector”: PM Modi on opening of Nalanda University’s new campus

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday expressed happiness before the inauguration of the new campus of the Nalanda University in Bihar’s Rajgir.

Highlighting Nalanda’s “strong connection with our glorious past,” PM Modi said the university will surely go a long way in catering to the educational needs of the youth.

Taking to social media platform X, PM Modi wrote, “It’s a very special day for our education sector. At around 10:30 AM today, the new campus of Nalanda University will be inaugurated at Rajgir. Nalanda has a strong connection with our glorious past. This university will surely go a long way in catering to the educational needs of the youth.”

According to a PMO release, the Prime Minister will visit the Ruins of Nalanda at around 9.45 am. The ruins of Nalanda were declared a UN Heritage Site in 2016.

At around 10.30 am, he will inaugurate the Nalanda new campus. The Prime Minister will also address the gathering on occasion.

The inauguration ceremony will be attended by several eminent people, including the heads of missions from 17 countries.

The campus has two academic blocks with 40 classrooms, with a total seating capacity of around 1900. It has two auditoriums with a capacity of 300 seats each. It has a student hostel with a capacity of around 550 students. It also has various other facilities, including an international centre, an amphitheatre that can accommodate up to 2000 individuals, a faculty club, and a sports complex, among others.

The Campus is a ‘Net Zero’ Green Campus. It is self-sustaining with solar plants, domestic and drinking water treatment plants, a water recycling plant for reusing wastewater, 100 acres of water bodies, and many other environment-friendly facilities.

The university is conceived as a collaboration between India and East Asia Summit (EAS) countries. It has a deep connection with history. The original Nalanda University, established around 1600 years ago, is considered to be among the first residential universities in the world.