President Pratibha Devisingh Patil shows the coffee book presented to her as Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal looks on at a function to mark Golden Jubilee celebrations of PPS, Nabha, on Monday |
Nabha, April 12
On her maiden visit to the state, President Pratibha Devisingh Patil today gave a clarion call to students to play a pro-active role in nation building. Addressing a gathering at the golden jubilee celebrations of Punjab Public School (PPS), Nabha, the President said: “This is my first visit to Punjab and I take this opportunity to convey my warmest greetings to the people of the state.”
Focusing on the education sector, Patil said the country needed educated citizens who have in them the ability to innovate and invent, particularly in the 21st century when the progress of the nation would be driven by knowledge base of its population. “There is no doubt that education is the most potent instrument for empowering a population and, therefore, right education is a priority sector for any nation,” she stated. Advising the students to aggressively participate in sports and other extra-curricular activities, Patil said: “Sports would teach the students to put in their best and accept both victory and defeat in the true spirit of a sportsperson.”
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Security ‘lapse’Security arrangements at the function were poor. At one of the entrance meant for the public, hardly any visitor was checked by the cops. “It is a big security breach. The President is here and the cops are not bothered to check the visitors,” said a retired cop. Also, identity cards issued for the special entry under various categories didn’t bear the photograph of the person concerned.
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Another word of advice for the students which Patil gave was: “Study hard and when you study, it must be for true learning and understanding. Think independently and creatively and be disciplined in your daily life.”
The President further said there was a need to inculcate values of compassion, tolerance and harmony in the students from childhood. “This would instill a feeling of welfare for the humanity and would also promote the feeling of national harmony. What we need is unity in diversity to keep our great country together,” she asserted.
Emphasising the role of teachers in today’s fast changing society, the President said teachers had a greater responsibility in interpreting developments of the world to the students in a proper perspective. “Strength of the nation depends on the quality of students that it produces,” she said.
In his address Governor Shivraj Patil said: “The school was set up to provide quality education to the wards of farmers, defence personnel and commoners. It has carved a niche for itself as the alumni of the school have done wonders in various sectors - be it defence, industry, judiciary, journalism, academics, medicine and other areas.”
Lauding the contribution of school for imparting quality education to the students, hailing mainly from the rural areas, President Pratibha Patil said she was hopeful that excellent track record of the school continued.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said: “It is reality that there is dearth of facilities for quality education in the rural areas.” Meanwhile, stating that the school had produced 14 serving Generals, Major Generals and Lieutenant Generals and over 150 Colonels and above in the Armed Forces, School Headmaster Commodore IL Syal read the annual report of the school. On this occasion, Governor Shivraj Patil released a coffee table book and presented it to the President.
‘Don’t waste
natural resources’
Stating that natural resources are finite, the President said: “Availability of various resources in our lifetime as well as for future generations can only be assured when we are careful while utilising nature's bounty.”
She asserted that indiscriminate use of precious resources would result in their depletion. “We must consciously adopt practices that are environment-friendly and even as we use the resources of our planet we should make efforts to replenish them. This is important for addressing the challenges of climate change and environmental degradation as also for meeting our growing water and energy needs,” she said.
