Kasargod: The first convocation of the Central University of Kerala was held here on July 18. President of India Pranab Mukherjee was the chief guest.

In his address, he complimented the university on the progress it made in a short period especially the creation of infrastructure that has permitted the shifting of five academic departments and the administrative infrastructure to the campus.

The President said that a school of medicine will be coming up at the University which will be helpful in carrying out research to mitigate the ordeal of endosulfan victims in the district.

He said that Kasargod in the Malabar region has historical importance but it lacked progress in many fields. To restore the glory of the place, the central government, set up CUK  in 2009. The President said that he was happy to name the campus ‘Tejaswini Hills’ after the river named Tejaswini which flows in the region.

Speaking about Malayalam which attained classical language status last year, he said that classical language centre envisaged by the university would provide a platform for research in various aspects of the local language, literature, and culture.

As many as 576 postgraduate and MPhil students were awarded degrees at the ceremonial function.