New Delhi:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday July 7, inaugurated Akhil Bhartiya Shiksha Samagam in Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi. The summit is being held for the successful implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 across the country. The Prime Minister Modi, while addressing at Varanasi Shiksha Samagam, said, “our education system and young generation carry a big part of realizing the pledges of the – Amrit Kaal.” He conveyed his best wishes for the Samagam while bowing to Mahamana Madan Mohan Malviya.
The Akhil Bhartiya Shiksha Samagam witnessed the presence of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Governor Anandiben Patel, Union Ministers Dharmendra Pradhan, Annapurna Devi, Dr Subhas Sarkar, Dr Rajkumar Ranjan Singh, State Ministers, educationists and other stakeholders.
Prime Minister Modi conveyed his best wishes for the Samagam while bowing to Mahamana Madan Mohan Malviya. Earlier in the day, the Prime Minister inaugurated the Akshay Patra Mid-Day Meal Kitchen at LT College which has a capacity of cooking midday meals for around 1 lakh students.
The Prime Minister quoted in his statement, “The basic premise of the National Education Policy is to take education out of narrow thinking and connect it with the modern ideas of the 21st century.”
“There was never a dearth of intellect and talent in the country, however, the education system created by the Britishers was never part of the Indian ethos,” he added.
Here are the key highlights of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s deliberation on Akhil Bhartiya Shiksha Samagam
- Prime Minister Modi underlined the multidimensionality of the Indian ethos of education. He called that aspect to characterize the modern Indian education system.
- The Prime Minister stressed that “We should not only prepare a degree holder but to give our education system to the country, whatever human resources are needed for the country to move forward.” He said teachers and educational institutions have to lead this resolution.
- He stated that India not only recovered fast from the big epidemic of Covid-19, but also became the fastest-growing large economies of the world. Today, India is the third-largest startup ecosystem in the world.
- The Prime Minister noted that in areas like space technology, where earlier only the government used to do everything, now a new world is being created for the youth through private players. Sectors that used to be closed to women are now showcasing their talent.
- Talking about the NEP 2020, the Prime Minister said that in the new policy, the entire focus is on making children skilled according to their talents and choices of the children. “Our youth should be skilled, confident, practical and calculative, education policy is preparing the ground for this”, he said.
- The Prime Minister emphasised on the need to work for the future with a new thought process. He said that children today are displaying a very advanced degree of talent and we need to be prepared to help and harness their talent.
- The Prime Minister glorified the efforts it took in the preparation of NEP and emphasised the momentum that was not let down after the preparation of the policy. The constant discussion and work on the implementation of the policy is going on.
- The Prime Minister also talked about major changes in the education infrastructure in the country. Many new colleges, universities, IITs and IIMs are opening in the country. He informed that there has been an increase of 55 percent in the number of medical colleges after 2014.
- “The Common Entrance Test for universities will bring ease and equality to university admissions”, PM Modi said.
- The Prime Minister also highlighted the effort to take ancient Indian languages like Sanskrit to new heights. He said, “National Education Policy is now opening the way for education in mother tongue. In this sequence ancient Indian languages like Sanskrit are also being taken forward.” He expressed his confidence over India to emerge as a big center of global education.
- Prime Minister Modi said that guidelines have been issued to prepare Indian higher education at par with international standards and asked experts to be aware of the international practices in the field. “Special offices have been established in 180 universities for international affairs of institutions,” he further added.
- The Prime Minister stressed over the importance of practical experience and fieldwork and asked for an attitude of ‘lab to land’. He underlined academics to validate their experience with verified testing and evidence-based research.
- The Prime Minister asked to research India’s demographic dividend and find ways to make best use of it. He asked academics to find solutions for the aging societies of the world. Similarly, resilient infrastructure is another area of research.
- “National Education Policy is a tool to realize myriad possibilities which were not available earlier, we need to make full use of it,” he added.