Kalam inaugurates education complex for rural children

Sanghol, Punjab, Aug 17 (UNI) President A P J Abdul Kalam today inaugurated the Sanghol Educational Complex at the ancient and archaeologically rich village of Sanghol, which has been established by a trust to impart education to the rural children.

Dr Kalam urged the teachers and the stake holders of the project to build a strong character of the pupils besides providing them academic education.

''The teachers should also inject in the students the mission in life,'' he said, while extending his good wishes to the Rana Charitable Trust, which had begun the Sanghol Educational Society six years back.

Dr Kalam stressed on the improvised management to deliver knowledge and encourage the creativity in the students at this upcoming Sanghol Educational Complex, built on the outskirts of the village which has Buddhist- era heritage,on borne out by the archaeological excavations here.

The President also respionded to the questions asked by the children of Sanghol village, saying that the gradual decline in the country's population below the poverty line was a strong indication that India would become a developed nation probably by 2020 AD.

In response to another question, he said that he would tell the Members of Parliament in Delhi that the countrymen were labelling the national leaders as ''corrupt''. The query was that whether he agreed with the viewpoint that the national leaders were corrupt.

''Let the children tell their parents not to adopt corrupt pratices,'' he said, adding that law was the tool to eradicte corruption. ''We have to begin from home.'' The President gifted two sets of books to the Sanghol Educational Society, one each for the library and the teachers.

Dr Kalam earlier visited the Sanghol Archaeological Museum which exhibited the artefacts discovered during the excavations which were carried out in the 1960s, which established that the village settlements dated back to 3000 BC.

Sanghol had risen to a major cultural centre in the Buddhist period and the pottery and other artifacts also indicate the presence of a Buddhist Vihara, the only one of its kind found in the region.

UNI PS VD PC1722