Narendra Modi Speak Teachers Day in NEW DELHI NEW DELHI: Have a nail cutter in every kindergarten; play hard, sweat more, remember playground is lap of mother earth; teeth are like policemen, they keep us safe, keep them strong and clean. These are not random suggestions found in a childrens manual, but words of advice from Narendra Modi during his Teachers Day speeches. The idea of schools being asked to telecast his Teachers Day address this year may have sparked much debate but people familiar with Modi style of working say he has been donning the role of margdarshak every September 5 for many years now. On Friday, Modi will address about 1,000 students at the Manekshaw Auditorium. It will be broadcast live by all Doordarshan channels and All India Radio. The prime minister would also answer questions from some students through video-conferencing. In 2008, as the Gujarat CM, Modi made the viewing of his Teachers Day address mandatory in schools across the state. Since then, it has been his favourite occasion to motivate children towards nation-building and also project himself as the guiding light for teachers. Gujarat CMO officials recall that on every Teachers Day, Modi used to give a 90-minute talk and interact with students from at 10 am at the Town Hall in Gandhinagar or Ahmedabad. The event would be telecast live on the Gujarat channel of DD and webcast on three private sites. Public auditoriums in Gujarat were booked for telecast in certain districts and even power cut schedules were altered in villages to facilitate uninterrupted viewing. For the interactive sessions, schools were asked to send in questions in advance, and every school was asked to send an attendance report to the education department after the event. The dignitaries on stage were always given books, instead of bouquets, on Modis suggestion, recalled Vatsalbhai Chavda, a teacher in Surat. This was also the day he honoured 30 best teachers in the state. Interestingly, teachers were judged by their contribution to tree planting, ras-garba, scout activities, school building, library work, sports and not the academic results of their students. We were told negligence in making arrangements for the viewing will not be tolerated and that surprise checks will be conducted. As the budgets for TV sets and even snacks were sanctioned from out the Swarnim Gujarat fund, schools had no excuse not to strictly follow them, Chavda recalled. In his speeches, Modi would ask teachers to use Google guru and technology to make their work simpler and learn more, and to consider themselves architects of the nation. Besides asking them to teach their students to maintain discipline and cleanliness, he would urge teachers to monitor mid-day meals to see if the children are getting enough nutrition. His instruction to children was love your country and respect your elders, especially teachers. Ask your mothers to make sukhdi (nutritious sweets) for pregnant women in your locality, he would tell them, besides asking them to volunteer in health camps. He would ask students to be allowed to sit in exams with their textbooks, and urged them to learn Asian languages such as Japanese and Chinese, besides mastering their mother tongue and English, Chavda said.
Posted on: Fri, 05 Sep 2014 06:27:35 +0000
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