What changes the individuality? Branded school or college or individual self? For recently appointed Deputy Under secretary General to UN Gyan Chandra Acharya, it is his own individual self that made his personality. 


Gyan Chandra Acharya is now Deputy Secretary General in the United Nations. His family background is modest, and his academic background does not start from an English Boarding School. Gyan Chandra Acharya is a graduate of Balmiki Campus (now the major campus of the Sanskrit University), and then the Tribhuvan University.


When our educational calendar is not maintained, a number of students are dropping out and education quality comes under a question mark. Even during such a crisis, it is a pride for all of us to see our own graduate appointed to the high post. This regains our prestige and makes our future prospects better. To quote an American-Lebanon man Khalil Gibran, “a man can be free without being great, but no Man can be great without being free.”


Acharya passed his Master’s in Economics only after he joined as Section Officer in the Nepalese Foreign Service. So his educational background was purely Sanskrit, without English subject at high school. He completed his school from the Ranipokhari Sanskrit School.


As the saying goes, where there is a will, there is a way. Acharya learnt English in the New Education system as an alternative paper in Balmiki. He was the top student from the Sanskrit background, who passed the examination of the Public Service Commission for Foreign Service by securing the top position. Acharya jumped to the post of a joint secretary in less than one year, when he was in the newly appointed Under Secretary position, through the open competition.


Acharya is not alone in Nepal's Foreign Service with Sanskrit background. Nepal's renowned diplomat late Sardar Yadunath Khanal and Jaya Raj Acharya were also the products of Balmiki Sanskrit campus or Ranipokhari School. They were the experts in chanankya niti.


Our country has been passing through a difficult period in areas from economics, to power and diplomacy. We failed to draft the law of the land within the given time. Amidst this gloomy scenario, Acharya has shown a ray of hope to Nepal that Nepalese can also secure such a high position in the UN Headquarters, New York, to lead the Least Developed Countries, the LDCS. One can believe that Acharya will play an active role to enhance the image of the country or the World's Heritage Site like Lumbini.


Acharya, secretary at Ministry of Environment and Science and Technology Krisha Gyanwali and Dr. Keshav Bhattrai (graduate from Harvard), who is now serving as a professor at the British University, all got the free education from Balmiki. Instead of boasting about private boarding schools, we should feel proud about our eastern idealism, with global knowledge.


Mahatma Ganhdi is renowned all over the world not because which school he went but because of his work. He championed non-violence against oppressive regime. His contribution to the Indian people is freedom and the rest of the world is the message of non-violence, peace and freedom. I have seen many universities in the world become popular due to some diligent graduates, though all students cannot be equally competent and diligent.


The Korean University is the pride of Ban-ki Moon where he graduated. During my visit to Korea under the International Educational Exchange Program in 2006, the officials of the Korea University and Seoul National University said they are proud as most of presidents and secretaries are and were their graduates. Ehwa women's university claimed most of the 1st ladies in Korea were their graduates.


A man can achieve success without having the top degree from any renowned university. Acharya had proved that a graduate from Sanskrit College, the Balmiki Campus, or Tribhuvan University could become an international personality with his continued devotion in his profession at a time when the so-called revolutionaries were busy to target Sanskrit Education. Actually, it shows that he is a genius. His extraordinary intellectual capacity led him to where he reached in National and International platforms.


It is not only a brand name of the education institution, but dedication and devotion of the individual that is important. Branded institutions like Oxford, and Cambridge in England, Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Cornell and Berkeley are meaningful but their brand is made by their graduates. Yale is proud of his Graduate Barack Obama as the President of United States State of America.


Similarly, Korea, Seoul and Yang University in South Korea, BHU, JNU, and Delhi University in India are considered reputed universities. However, in some cases individual student is more important than the university. This is what Acharya proves.