Address At The Presentation Of National Award To Teachers, New Delhi

Real education enhances the dignity of human life

I am indeed delighted to participate in the Teachers award function. I realize it is very important to recognize the great service done by the teachers from different schools spread all over the country. My greetings to the organizers, education planners and policy makers, principals, teachers and other distinguished guests. My congratulations to all the awardees, who have worked consistently for many years, to achieve this recognition. The award is a small token of our appreciation of your work and is also intended to act as a booster for you to work with more renewed vigour towards shaping the young and in turn the future of our country.

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 the teachers, about the six young innovators from various schools of our country. I met them at Rashtrapati Bhavan on 2nd September 2004. Their innovations were:- a system to prevent the soiling of railway tracks by Madhav Pathak of Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, 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, a toy lazer for educational applications by Sudhanwa Hukkeri of Belgaum, Karnataka, a software programme for embedding of text through audio signals by Kyan Pardiwalla of Mumbai, Maharashtra and an optically controlled wheel chair by S. Harish Chandra of Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

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 innovators 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.

Make congenial atmosphere for the teachers

Teachers? community is indeed the creators of enlightened citizens. Today India has around 5 million teachers working in our primary and secondary schools. Majority of them will be teaching in the schools located in the 600,000 villages spread all over the country. Hence it is important to make their life comfortable and attractive. This could be possible by Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas through essential connectivities such as physical, electronic, knowledge connectivity, which in turn will lead to the economic prosperity of the village cluster. It is not adequate to provide only school infrastructure in a village, but we have to provide an integrated learning environment for the student and economic environment for the whole family, which attracts them to stay in the village. It is a natural tendency for the teachers to look for transfers to urban areas since they feel they can educate their children only in big towns or cities. Also they feel that their knowledge can be expanded only with the facilities available in urban areas. This situation needs immediate attention by the government, and we should embark on a massive programme of providing integrated connectivities to the villages. This is a multi-ministerial mission, which has to be executed in partnership with the corporate sector and others.

The role of the teacher is like the proverbial ?ladder?- it is used by every one to climb up in life? but the ladder stays in its place. Such is the noble nature of our profession. Like in the game of ?snakes and ladders? ( Parama padam) the ladder can take a person to the world of snakes or to the world of unlimited fortunes. I am aware that the good teachers that you are, you would ensure that you contribute to the upliftment of many of the young students through your caring concern and dedication. Your place in our society and in the life of a youngster, comes after that of the parents but before God ? matha, pitha, Guru and then Theyvam. With that kind of recognition, I believe there is no other profession in the world that is more important to society than yours.

Importance of Teachers Day

Today is Dr. Radhakrishnan?s birthday. He was a great teacher. Whenever people approached him for celebrating his birthday he said it can be celebrated better as ?Teachers Day? that is how the Teachers? Day is celebrated on 5th September every year.

As a teacher Dr. Radhakrishnan has put forth his thoughts on teachings and teaching effects. He says ?it is well known that all great arts centre round religious leader: music, painting, sculpture, literature all these centre round and get inspiration from the great religious leaders. Great teacher do teach us those things etc. and they ask us to abolish caste, get rid of untouchability but it takes a long time for us to practice those teachings. We still suffer from these disabilities?. Only great teachers and particularly the primary and secondary teachers can remove this disability from our society.

Conclusion

Ultimately, education in its real sense is the pursuit of truth. Teacher is in the pivotal position. He has to continuously replenish and update his knowledge so that his wards will always look up to him as a walking encyclopedia, as a fountain of love and most of all, caring. The teacher will look for newer opportunities to teach latest technological developments and even use them in his class rooms so that technology and teacher assisted learning would be the order of the day in India. It is an endless journey through knowledge and enlightenment. Such a journey opens up new vistas of development of humanism where there is neither scope nor room for pettiness, disharmony, jealousy, hatred or enmity. It transforms a human being into a wholesome whole, a noble soul and an asset to the universe. Universal brotherhood in its true sense becomes the sheet anchor for such education. Real education enhances the dignity of a human being and increases his or her self-respect. If only the real sense of education could be realized by each individual with the guidance of the teacher, and carried forward in every field of human activity the world will be so much a better place to live in.

Once again let me congratulate all the awardees and the other teachers wherever they are. My best wishes to all of you.

May God bless you.