The primary responsibility of combining the inherent talents of the students lies with the teachers; a good teacher is a personality-builder, a society-builder, and a nation-builder, said the President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind. He was speaking at a virtual award ceremony today on the occasion of Teachers’ Day wherein 44 teachers from across the country were honoured with the National Awards.
Union Minister for Education, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan and Minister of State for Education, Shri Subhas Sarkar; MoS, Shri RajKumar Ranjan Singh and Smt Annapurna Devi also graced the occasion. Smt. Anita Karwal, Secretary, Department of School Education and Literacy and Shri Amit Khare, Secretary, Department of Higher Education and other senior officials were present on the occasion.
The President congratulated all the teachers who received the award for their distinguished contributions. He said that such teachers strengthen his belief that the future generation is safe in the hands of our well-qualified teachers. He said that teachers have a very important place in everyone’s life. People remember their teachers life-long. Teachers who nurture their students with affection and devotion always get respect from their students.
The President urged teachers to inspire and enable their students to envision a golden future and acquire aptitude to fulfill their aspirations. He said that it is the duty of teachers to inculcate interest in studies in their students. Sensitive teachers can shape the future of students by their behaviour, conduct and teaching. He said that they should pay special attention to the fact that each student has different abilities, talents, psychology, social background and environment. Therefore, emphasis should be laid on all-round development of each child according to their special needs, interests and abilities.
The President said that for the last one and a half years, the whole world is going through a crisis caused by the Corona pandemic. In this situation, even when all the schools and colleges were closed, teachers did not allow the education of the children to stop. For this, the teachers learned to use digital platforms in a very short time and continued the education process. He noted that some teachers have developed remarkable infrastructure in schools with their hard work and dedication. He appreciated such dedicated teachers and expressed hope that the entire teacher community would keep on changing their teaching method according to the changing circumstances.
The President said that the National Education Policy, implemented last year, has set an ambitious objective of establishing India as a global knowledge super-power. We have to provide such education to the students which would be helpful in building a just society based on knowledge. Our education system should be such that students develop commitment to the constitutional values and fundamental duties, strengthen patriotic feeling, and make them aware of their role in the changing global scenario.
The President noted that the Union Ministry of Education has taken some important steps to enable teachers. The Ministry has started integrated teachers’ training programme called ‘Nishtha’ under which efforts are being made for ‘Online Capacity Building’ for teachers. Apart from this, ‘Pragyata’ i.e. guidelines on digital education which were issued last year, is also a commendable step with a view to maintain the pace of education even during the crisis of Covid pandemic. He commended the entire team of Union Ministry of Education for finding new avenues even in difficult circumstances.
The Union Minister for Education, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan delivered the welcome address while the Minister of State for Education, Smt Annpurna Devi gave the Vote of Thanks.
Earlier this morning, the President paid homage to Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, former President of India on his birth anniversary. The President and officials of Rashtrapati Bhavan paid floral tributes to the portrait of Dr Radhakrishnan at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
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