Address and Interaction With the Students of Kodungallur

I am indeed delighted to interact with the students of Kodungallur. My Greetings to the Principals, teachers, parents and students.

My message

Dear Children, you are all in the mission of learning. What learning will give?

"When learning is purposeful, creativity blossoms.

When the creativity blossoms, thinking emanates.

When thinking emanates, knowledge is fully lit.

When knowledge is lit, economy flourishes."

Young Innovators

As a fellow teacher, I can state that the teachers are the backbone of any country, a pillar upon which all aspirations of the country are built to become realities. In my Independence day speech, I put education as a central theme. Education is the learning process and leads to creativity. The creativity is indeed the result of the education process and the environment of the school and above all the teachers? capability igniting the minds of the students. The essence of it can be seen in the following verses: Learning gives Creativity, creativity leads to thinking, Thinking provides knowledge Knowledge makes you great. I would like to share with you particularly the teachers, about the nine young innovators from various schools of our country. I met them at Rashtrapati Bhavan on 2nd September 2004. Their innovations were:- Madhav Pathak of Jabalpur has innovated a system to prevent the soiling of railway tracks. Other innovations include herbal pesticide tablets for storage of food grains by Priyanka Guleria of Sionty Village in Punjab, low calorie biscuits made from banana peels by Rucha Joshi of Nanded, Maharashtra, herbal formulation for controlling growth of larvae by Janaki Preeti, Chennai, a toy laser for educational applications by Sudhanwa Hukkeri of Belgaum, Karnataka, a software programme for embedding of text through audio signals by Pardiwalla of Mumbai, Maharashtra, an optically controlled wheel chair by S. Harish Chandra of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, advanced audio video coding of data by Kyan Pardiwala of Mumbai and a novel devise for lifting the surface water of the river by Jaydeep Mandal of Murshidabad.

The group was chosen following a rigorous selection process and the innovations had the largest number of footfalls at the Tokyo Exhibition. The process of selection and sending the group abroad was co-ordinated by Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and the Department of Science and Technology (DST).

The Role of Teachers: Capacity Building

This example shows how many of our teachers have successfully groomed young students who can innovate and create innovative gadgets, which are relevant to the society. The success of your students is a testimony to your great service. I am sure that each one of you would create many such innovators. For participating in the nation building tasks, the capacities required to be built among the students by the teachers are: The capacity for research or inquiry, the capacity for Creativity and Innovation, particularly the creative transfer of knowledge, the capacity to use high technology, the capacity for Entrepreneurial Leadership and the capacity for Moral Leadership. The aim of the teacher should be to build character, human values enhance the learning capacity of children through technology and build the confidence among children to be innovative and creative which in turn will make them competitive to face the future.

Nothing is impossible?

Human flight is nothing but creativity of human mind and it undergoes several struggles to achieve excellence. In 1895, a great well-known scientist Lord Kelvin, who was the President of Royal Society of London said, ?any thing heavier than air cannot fly, and cannot be flown.? Within a decade, Wright Brothers proved man could fly of course at heavy risk and cost.

On the successful completion of Moon Mission in 1969, Von Braun, a very famous rocket designer, who built Saturn-V, to launch the capsule with astronauts and made moon walk a reality, in 1975 said ?If I am authorized, I will remove the word impossible?.

In ancient days, Ptolemaic astronomy is a widely used system in calculating the dynamics of various stars and planets. Assumption by then was that the earth is flat. What a scientific struggle had to take place to prove that the earth is spherical in shape orbiting around the sun. The three great astronomers Copernicus, Galileo and Kepler had to give a new dimension to the world of astronomy. Today we take it for granted that earth is a globe, orbiting around the sun, and the sun orbits in the Milky Way. All the technological advancements we have today are the outcome of scientific exploration of scientists of earlier centuries. At no time, man was beaten by problems. He strives continuously to subjugate impossibility and then succeeds.

According to the laws of aerodynamics the bumblebee should never be able to fly. Because of the size, weight, and shape of its body in relationship to the total wing span, flying is scientifically impossible. The bumblebee, being ignorant of scientific theory, goes ahead and flies anyway. I would like the youth assembled here to take a lesson from these examples and work to make everything possible.

Diverting Asteroids

A few days back one important event took place in space. That was the impact of the NASA spacecraft called deep impact smashing into the comet Tempel-I, with enough force to create football stadium sized crater with a depth of a 14 storey building. The spacecraft was navigated by an Indian Shyam Bhaskaran ? the deep impact traveled 431 million kms in 172 days escaping from the earth orbit and intercepted the comet at a straight distance from earth at 134 million km. the comet was orbiting around the Sun every five and half years. This is a land mark in space exploration.

This event is important to divert asteroids which may hit the earth in future. One such large asteroid 1950 AD is expected to hit the earth on March 16, 2880 AD and nearly one third of the earth will be damaged. Like the ?Deep Impact? one spacecraft is required to be sent with high energy material to divert or break the asteroid to move it out of the present orbit.

Nobility in Mind

Each day, as you all are aware, Mahatma Gandhiji used have prayer meeting at a fixed time in the evening. After the prayers there will be a collection of voluntary gift for harijan welfare. The devotees of Gandhiji used to collect whatever given by the people of all sections and this collection is counted by the supporting staff of Gandhi family. The amount so collected will be informed to Gandhiji before his dinner. The next day, a bank man will come for taking this money. Once the bank man reported that there was a discrepancy of few paise in the money given to him and the money collected. Mahatma Gandhiji, on hearing this, went on fast telling that this is a donation for the poor and we have to account for every paise. Dear friends, his act of righteousness should be practiced by all of us. On this day, let us rededicate ourselves to practice righteousness in all our thoughts and actions. Now I would like you to recite with me the divine hymn ?

Righteousness

Where there is righteousness in the heart,

there is a beauty in the character.

When there is beauty in the character,

there is harmony in the home.

When there is harmony in the home,

there is order in the nation.

When there is order in the nation,

there is peace in the world.

Friends, we can see a beautiful connectivity between heart, character, nation and the world. Now I would like to discuss with you my interaction with the young innovators whom I met in Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Conclusion : Mission for youth

Corruption is an assault on consciousness. The habit of taking bribes and seeking favours has become very common. People holding important positions have developed inconsiderateness to their conscience. They pretend everything is all right. Do not they have idea of the law of action and reaction? Have they forgotten how impressions of the subconscious mind and their force work? If you take bribes, your thoughts and actions are registered in the subconscious mind. Will you not be carrying forward your dishonesty to your next generations causing them great suffering? It is a painful reality that corruption has become a way of life affecting all aspects of living, personal as well as social. It is not merely the pecuniary corruption but other forms as well. Immoral ways of people holding high positions and handling power have takeaway guilt out of the minds of lesser mortals. What a dangerous situation? A great civilization is endangered.

I would like the children of Kodungallur to start a movement against corruption which is vital for ensuring unimpeded growth of our economy leading to a prosperous, happy and developed nation.

My best wishes to you all for success in your educational career. May God bless you.

Now, I would like to administer a ten point oath to the students. Are you ready?

TEN POINT OATH

1. I will pursue my education with dedication and I will excel in it.

2. From now onwards, I will teach at least 10 persons to read and write those who cannot read and write.

3. I will plant at least 10 saplings and shall ensure their growth through constant care.

4. I will visit rural and urban areas and permanently wean away at least 5 persons from addiction and gambling.

5. I will constantly endeavor to remove the pain of my suffering brethren.

6. I will not support any religious, caste or language differentiation.

7. I will be honest and endeavour to make a corruption free society.

8. I will work for becoming an enlightened citizen and make my family righteous.

9. I will always be a friend of the mentally and physically challenged and will work hard to make them feel normal, like the rest of us.

10. I will proudly celebrate the success of my country and my people.