The Hindu : Kalam to work for education reforms

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Dec 28, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka

Kalam to work for education reforms

By Our Staff Correspondent

Mysore Dec. 27. The President, A.P.J.Abdul Kalam, said here today that the school syllabus and the education system should help bring out latent creativity of students and he would strive to work for it.

He was interacting with schoolchildren participating in the 10th National Children's Science Congress (NCSC) on the Regional Institute of Education campus.

The President's response was to a query put by a student who wished to know Dr. Kalam's views on the present education system in which the emphasis was more on testing students' memory rather than their intelligence.

Dr. Kalam drew the attention of the Director of the NCERT, J.S.Rajput, the student's query, and said this was an issue of concern among teachers, educationists, policy-makers etc. "I have seen the load of the present generation students and I agree that it is too high. I agree with you that the syllabus should bring out the creativity and I will also work for it," he said. However, he added that "extra hard work had not harmed anyone."

Describing his vision for a modern and a developed India for which children had a great role to play, Dr. Kalam said he imagined a nation of one billion people who were empowered at various levels, and the vision of a developed India could be achieved if one worked for it with an ignited mind.The Union Minister of State for Science and Technology, Bachi Singh Rawat, released the souvenir and inaugurated the technical seminars. He announced that the Government would launch a major campaign to observe 2004 as the "year of scientific temper."

The Minister of State for Science and Technology, Nafees Fazal, announced that the State had embarked upon ambitious projects to popularise science and technology. A "Science City" was planned in Dharwad on a 50-acre land donated by Karnatak University while a science park would be established in Bangalore to house a space museum, apart from a science city.

The Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food, and Public Distribution, V.Srinivas Prasad, inaugurated the face-to-face programme, while Dr. Rajput inaugurated the science activity corner. The Chief Minister, S.M.Krishna, inaugurated the exhibition and wished that the participating students emerged as the future scientists of the country. The Governor, T.N.Chaturvedi, H.Narasimhaiah, Chief Patron, Karnataka Rajya Vignana Parishat, were present.

The NCSC-2002 is being held for the first time in Karnataka and the theme for this year 's congressis: "Food systems: Towards nutrition for all."

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