AMN /
Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for cordial relations between teachers and students for helping the young generation in fulfilling dreams of their life.
While interacting with students outside national capital through satellite link on the eve of Teachers’ Day at the Manekshaw auditorium in Delhi , Prime Minister said that being a teacher is something different from all other professions and a teacher never retires in life.
Mr. Modi said that a teacher play an important role in shaping lives of students and “Students are the identity of a teacher.”
PM said “A mother gives birth to a child, while the (guru) teacher gives life (jeevan),” he said
Modi told students and teachers that sometimes people ask him that why does he spend so much time with them.
“If a doctor saves someone’s life, his photo is published in a newspaper. But if a teacher makes a hundred doctors, he is hardly recognized. Teachers’ Day is to recognize and honour them,” he said, adding, “There must have been a great teacher behind every great doctor, engineer, scientist.”
Observing that a teacher is “incomplete” if he is not investing in his students, Modi said, “Young children are very impressionable and whatever their teacher says, they’ll remember that for the rest of their life. Teachers play a big role in shaping students.”
Referring to late former President A P J Abdul Kalam, he said Kalam “wanted to be remembered as a teacher”.
The Prime Minister released a commemorative coin in honour of Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, and also launched the Kala Utsav website.
Prime Minister said being in politics or joining the Armed Forces is not the only way to serve the nation.
Replying to a query of a student, Prime Minister Modi said, politics requires good people from all walks of life to clean it which has unfortunately acquired a lot of bad name.
Mr Modi said, there is no dearth of good teachers in the country.
The Prime Minister asked people who have done well in their career to spend at least one hour a week or hundred hours in a year to teach the students.
Congratulating the teachers for shaping India’s future, he said, being a teacher is not like any other occupation and he or she can never retire.
Saying that classroom gives a sense of mission and priority, he asked the students to be a good listener to speak well and enhance their confidence level.
On a routine issuance of character certificate in schools, Mr Modi said, he has issued direction to replace character certificate with aptitude certificate.
On Digital India programme, Mr Modi said, it is an important tool of empowerment and shift to e-governance is a must to ensure good governance and transparency.
When asked by a student that shortage of power is a hurdle in achieving the objectives of Digital India, Prime Minister Modi said, there are villages with no electricity and in next one thousand days, the government intends to provide power to 18,000 villages.
He said, he wants to ensure 24X7 power supply across the country by 2022.
Eight hundred students and 60 teachers from schools of Delhi participated in person whereas several children from across the country who have excelled in various activities are interacted with the Prime Minister through video conferencing from nine different locations.