In a unique exercise carried out on the occasion of Teacher’s Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi put technology to some good use to address children across the country. Around 12 million students across the country were connected via video conferencing with the PM. The highly anticipated speech was also streamed live on various government channels through television, radio and the Internet.
Here are some highlights of the Prime Minister’s address to the students of the nation:
“A good teacher is one who also learns in the process of teaching. Slowly, this occasion is losing value.”
“Today, Teacher’s Day is often limited to awarding teachers. We need to highlight teacher’s importance in society and till the time we don’t accept the importance, nor will there we pride for teacher, nor will there be much success in the teacher bringing the required change in the progress of future generations.”
“What is the reason that very capable students don’t want to become teachers? There is huge demand for good teachers worldwide and there is a dearth of them. India is a young country. Why can’t we export world-class teachers? Why can’t we inspire students to become excellent teachers and help in nation-building?”
“Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan served the nation passionately. His idea of a celebrating teacher’s day and not his birthday is great. You may ask any celebrity and in most cases, they will say that their success is attributed to my mother and my teacher.”
“There was a time when teachers, especially in rural India, were highly respected. We can revoke that situation. Many among you must be restless on weekends to meet teachers on Monday. Our teacher is often our hero and best friend.”
“I had said on August 15 that I wish that this year there are no schools where there are no separate toilets for girls in our country. When I went into details of it, I realised the seriousness of the issue. I need help from all schools and teachers. I met an Indian family in Japan which explained that as a process for character building, teachers and students clean their schools and toilets. Unfortunately in India the conditioning is such that the media has on occasions created ruckus where children were doing cleaning in schools.”
“Nation building should be made a revolution. Why not join energies? There should be efforts towards building a national character.”
“I don’t believe that circumstances can stop anyone if one has the will. I believe our youth have it in them to move forward.”
Technology is gaining tremendous significance. I would like to tell our teachers that it will be a social crime if the coming generation is not connected to technology.”
“We should play sports and enjoy in this age. Life should not be restricted to books, TV, computers. How many of you like reading besides school text books? Who likes reading biographies? We go near history when we read biographies. It can be in any field, scientists, sports or corporate. The world is much bigger.”
“Today we are habitual to using the ‘Google Guru’. It is definitely helpful. Google gives information, but not knowledge.”
“Teachers have played a big role in shaping the future of many like us and we have to give them due respect.”
