Students proficient in traditional music can now pursue engineering at IIT Madras, Prof V Kamakoti, Director, IIT-Madras has said, urging parents to encourage their children to learn music from a young age.

Delivering the inaugural address at the 93rd annual South Indian Music Conference and Festival of Indian Fine Arts Society on December 17, among the oldest sabhas of Chennai, Prof Kamakoti said music has a strong basis for science, especially mathematics.

“We at IIT-Madras are working a lot on this,” Prof Kamakoti said.

According to him, to promote inter-disciplinary education at IIT Madras, they are establishing a ‘bamboo-based mic-less' auditorium and were also in the process of establishing the Ilaiyaraya Centre for Excellence in Music.

“We are focusing on interdisciplinary education at IIT Madras. Operation Sindhoor is an example of this, as 10-11 disciplines of engineering were involved in that operation,” he added.