CHITWAN: Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has said education should be promoted by linking it with the nation's development.

Addressing the special assembly of the Agriculture and Forestry University in Rampur today, he said the government has started emphasising useful education.

Prime Minister said that education, knowledge, colleges and universities have been an integral part of development, prosperity and culture in the past, and the country had moved to new education system after 1949.

He further stated that the education system adopted in the country after that period was copied from the education system implemented by the then British colonialists in India which served the colonial interests.

On a different note, the PM stated that Nepal imported food grains despite it being an agriculture-based economy where two-thirds of its population is dependent on agriculture. He added that this situation had not arisen due to lack of foodgrain production but due to our eating habits.

He stressed on the need to increase agricultural production and productivity by four times as compared to its present level, saying technology and research needed to be promoted for that.

Similarly, Education Minister Giriraj Mani Pokhrel said the graduates from the university should work for the interest of the nation and its people.

The meeting, which passed the names of students who would be conferred diplomas on the occasion, was chaired by Prime Minister Oli who is the Chancellor of the University.