Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Pranab Mukherjee addressed and interacted with students on the occasion of Teachers Day which commemorates the birthday of Dr Sarvepalli Radhakhrishnan. He resolved students’ queries and there was exchange of ideas with them. The function began by reciting prayers to Goddess Saraswati. HRD Minister Smriti Irani quoted an anonymous author, “That Human Spirit collapses when it is denied a dream”. Modi later interacted with students outside through the video conferencing mode, which was broadcast live by Doordarshan and All India Radio. Some very studious and innovative students who have done India proud internationally spoke and received complements by the PM and vice versa. Many of them were inspired by his “Swachh Bharat” campaign and are working on dry waste and how to turn wet waste into fertilizer and energy.
Education takes you from darkness to brightness and today the population being 65 per cent of youth between 9 and 15 years old we can see a unique India emerging in their hands and the mighty minds of Generation Next. Thanks to teachers who can be great educationists and their determination can make them influential catalysts to the students. As a mark of respect Modi released two commemorative coins of Rs 125 and Rs 10 in the memory of former President Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. The coins will be in circulation soon and is made up of silver, zinc, copper and nickel. Taking a leaf from his life and recently from some others like APJ Abdul Kalam would be an inspiration for the receptive minds.
According to our 5000 years old culture mother gives you birth but guru-teacher- is defined as the one who gives life and shows you the right path. That’s why the saying “Gurur Brahma, Gurur Vishnu, Gurur Devo Maheshwara”. One of the relevant questions addressed to Modi was that he had launched the “Digital India’ programme with much fanfare but how will it click when there is shortage of electricity in many regions of India. Modi has promised that he is hoping that within 1000 days 18,000 thousand villages will be provided with full electricity by the time the nation observes 75th Independence Day this country will be more digitally savvy . If this does not remain a promise but actually happens then this government will prove to be a beacon for millions of students in India. The other thing that stood out was when the PM mentioned that instead of just receiving a character certificate one will now receive an aptitude certificate wherein the skill you are best at should be pursued and excelled at instead of following some parents who ask their children to become something they wanted to achieve but didn’t. Parents, he mentioned which guided their children in the right direction should be saluted. He said that we should not become Robots now that technology is so advanced but still remain sensitive. This is reminiscent of Bill Gates who said that “Technology is just a tool, it is the teachers who nurture the real you.”
Coming back to the creative students, who have achieved milestones at a young age, were given the opportunity to be pro-active with the PM and ask queries. One of them is a mountaineer from class 10th from Telangana who sponsored it. Malavat Poorna at the age of 13 years is the youngest person to reach the Mt. Everest Summit. A group of five girls have represented our country in Los Angeles and have developed an app for dry waste called ” Sellixo” where in users can log on to which helps them to market and recycle it. There is one 12 year boy who has won the “Amul Chef of the year” award. In the future we will see him as Master Chef in the Australian franchise hosted now here as well. There were so many achievements which is a very encouraging sign for this country.
Allka V Aswani
