New Delhi, Sep 5 (IANS): Prime minister Narendra Modi Friday exhorted students to remember the importance of teachers in social life and called for making India a hub for exporting teachers.
"Gradually this inspiring chapter (Teachers' Day) is losing its importance...This has become limited to giving awards to teacher and having ceremonies. Need of the hour is to underline the importance of a teacher in our social life," Modi said addressing school students here.
He said India is a country of young people and we should think of becoming a hub for exporting teachers.
But people are no interested in becoming teachers, he contended.
"There is a need for debate on the reasons why many bright students do not want to become teachers. All of us have to find the answer to this question. In a global context, it is believed that there is a great demand for teachers and good teachers are in short supply. India is a young nation. Can't India dream of exporting teachers of high calibre?" Modi asked.
Stressing on the teacher-taught relationship, Modi said students share even those things with teachers, which they cannot tell their family members.
"Things which can't be told to mother, brother and sister, one feels so eager to tell one's teacher. This is the level of closeness. The same teacher changes his/her life. Teacher's word brings the major change in the life of a student," Modi said.
He reiterated his view that no school should be without toilet facility for the girl students.
"I have said on Aug 15 that I want no school should remain without toilet for girls by the end of this year," he said.
Modi called upon learned citizens to contribute to their nearby schools as teachers.
"I call upon the senior people of the country. You may be doctors, lawyers, IAS officers or IPS officers. Can't you identify a school nearby and volunteer to teach there for at least one period after deciding appropriate subject with the school," Modi appealed.
Nation-building should be made a people's movement, he said
He added that difficult situations in life cannot be a deterrant to pursuing one's dreams.
"As a student you might be having many dreams. I don't believe that situations in life can stop anyone. If the determination is strong, then, I believe, that youngsters and children of this country have the strength and talent to move forward," Modi maintained.
He said students should be adept in technology.
"We are living with children who are growing up in the age of technology. We should not keep them deprived from this. That will be a social crime. Our efforts should be that our children should be well versed with modern science and technology," he said.
He further said that sports are necessary for children and that they should also show interest in reading biographies.
"If there is no sports in life, child will not bloom. This is a stage which one should enjoy and spare some time to sweat at least four times in a day," he said.
He asked students: "How many of you like to read autobiographies. It seems there are very few such children. I ask children to read biography of the person whom they like most."
"By reading biographies we get the chance to come closer to the history and to understand what truth is. We should strive for that. Otherwise, everything is done by Google Guru and you have the habit to go to Google if you have a question. One gets the information but not the knowledge," Modi said.