New Delhi, Mar 1 (IANS): Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday called for imparting value-based education to children, with emphasis on Indian culture and heritage.

Naidu stressed that education is meant for empowerment, enlightenment and employment not for mere acquisition of degrees and certificates. Deploring the commercialisation of education, Naidu said that education and medicine were treated as missions in the olden days.

"Education must produce socially conscious and responsible citizens who will strive selflessly for the larger good of society and the country. Nobody will remember if you love yourself but you will become immortal if you live for others, then you will live long in the memory of others", he added.

Naidu was participating in the diamond jubilee celebrations of Sri Patibandla Seetharamaiah High School, Guntur. Addressing the students, teachers and parents, the Vice-President stressed the importance of holistic education saying equal attention must be paid to physical fitness and activities like gardening.

He reiterated the need to accord priority to imparting education in mother tongue and it is important to be proficient in one's mother tongue, while learning other languages.

Expressing his concern over the declining values in society, Naidu appealed to people to elect and support public representatives with 4 Cs" -- character, capacity, conduct (good) and calibre. He also stressed the need for people's representatives to possess discipline and commitment to people's welfare.

The Vice-President said that he wished to see India as a strong and powerful nation, where "there is no hunger, no illiteracy and no discrimination".

He also visited the Annamayya Library in Guntur, which has a rich collection of two lakh books, including some rare ones, on wide-ranging subjects.

Every village, Naidu said, must have a library and called for inculcating reading habits among children from an early age.