While cautiously welcoming the Government’s proposed equitable standard school education, Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram on Monday added the caveat that the prescribed standards should be more a "minimum benchmark" and not put a ceiling on academic achievement.
Addressing Parents Day celebrations of Don Bosco Higher Secondary School, Mr. Chidambaram said that while he agreed that it was important that every school should adhere to equitable standards, those standards should be the bare benchmark below which no school should go.
"I would urge the Government to enable schools with capacity should be allowed to set higher standards. In the pursuit of excellence, there cannot be a ceiling," he said.
Referring to the school’s motto "Be the Best", Mr. Chidambaram cautioned that students should believe that the best was yet to come.
Unlike his schooldays when there were few schools that taught English, there were hardly any scholarships, and extra-curricular pursuits were few, Mr. Chidambaram wanted students to bear in mind that never in the 62-year history of independent India had there been so many opportunities for students.
The Government of India was committed to establishing a Central University in each State, new IITs, IIMs and IIITs beside a large number of polytechnics to expand opportunities, foster excellence and promote equity in education.
The Government, which had launched a Skill Development Mission to ensure that students picked up a skill beyond the textbook experience, also proposed to establish 6,000 model schools on a ratio of one in each block across the country, he said.
The Government of India issued 15 lakh scholarships every year to SC/ST students alone in addition to over a lakh scholarships to minority candidates towards making education equitable to all sections, Mr. Chidambaram said.
The Minister released a golden jubilee souvenir of the school, launched an environment club and distributed prizes to meritorious students. He also unveiled the model of a hostel constructed by the school for underprivileged boys in Veeralur village in Thiruvannamalai district.
Fr. Stanley Ignatius, Don Bosco principal while welcoming the Government aim to implement equitable and uniform syllabus urged the Government to provide space to allow talent of each student to flourish.
The concept of pluralism in education meant that every student and parent had a choice of medium and mode of education as well as the subject and language, he said.
The Rector Amalraj Thomas also spoke.
