LS Speaker calls for adopting broad-based curriculam

Pathanamthitta (Kerala), Oct 5: Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee called for adopting a broad-based curriculam in ''our educational system'' for developing the total personality of the students and widening their intellectual horizons.

Warning against disquieting tendencies threatening the national fabric, he exhorted the students to defend democracy.

Mr Chatterjee said education should inculcate humanism, tolerance, discipline and broad-mindedness, while inaugurating the Platinum Jubilee celebrations of the Marthoma Higher Secondary School here yesterday.

Education should pass on the rich heritage of the land to successive generations, he added.

He said, education was the primary agent for socio-economic development. He quoted nobel-Loureate Prof Amartya Sen, who observed ''If we continue to leave vast sections of the people outside the orbit of education, we make the world not only less just, but also less secure''.

Lauding the contribution of Christian Community towards the development of the nation, he said the large number of educational institutions and healthcare centres established across the country amply testified to the praiseworty humanitarian work of various Christian organisations.

The Speaker said the christian organisations had also contributed a lot for the spread of literacy and education in Kerala. Education had been recognised as a potent tool for the empowerment of the weaker sections of society, he added.

Geegarghese Mar Athanasius, Marthoma Metropolitan Dr Philipose Mar Chrysostem were also present.

UNI