New Delhi, September 5
President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam today honoured 284 teachers with national awards for meritorious service, stressing the importance of India’s five million teachers whose efforts, he said, could change the lives of its billion people.Speaking on the occasion, Dr Kalam called teachers “great asset” who could change the lives of children by educating them into able and productive citizens — notwithstanding differing capacities — and helping make society vibrant.
He said real education was one that made a person think “what I can do” — be they children, teachers or leaders, an official statement said.
The award carries a certificate of merit, a silver medal and a cash prize of Rs 25,000.
The winners, many of whom wore traditional folk attire, included 74 women teachers, two teachers of Sanskrit, two teachers from Arabic or Persian schools and 12 teachers — five of them
physically challenged — promoting education of children with disabilities, a category for which 33 special awards have been instituted from this year.
Speaking on the occasion, Human Resource Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi apprised teachers of their growing responsibility, with education having been made a fundamental right, and described initiatives being taken to bring “the differently abled children into the mainstream of education and vocationalisation.”
He said in recognition of the potential and capabilities of such children, India would be hosting National Abilympics this year and, for the first time, International Abilympics — Olympics of the disabled — next year.
Dr Joshi disclosed that development of Model Girls Secondary Schools was getting priority attention in the current Five Year Plan and secondary education was poised for a leap in terms of quality and quantity.
He said it was time “teachers role” and “teaching learning process” were widened and enhanced to meet the demands of children entering into the adult world in the coming days.
The minister appealed to all teachers to be valued partners in the development of strategies to meet such challenges and changes. He urged them to participate with zeal in the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and make it a people’s movement to serve children, the future assets of the country.
UNI
