Connect education with modern ideas: PM Modi

Varanasi, July 07: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday highlighted the need for connecting education with the modern ideas of the 21st century.

Speaking at the inaugural session of the three-day Akhil Bhartiya Shiksha Samagam here, he said that "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."

The Prime Minister said 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 underlined the multidimensionality of the Indian ethos of education and asked for that aspect to mark the modern Indian education system.

The Prime Minister stressed that "we should not only prepare degree holder youth but give our education system to the country, whatever human resources are needed for the country to move forward. Our teachers and educational institutions have to lead this resolution."

For creating a New India, PM Modi stressed that a new system and modern processes are critical. What was not even imagined earlier is a reality now, he said. The Prime Minister continued "not only did we recover so fast from the big epidemic of Corona, but today India is one of the fastest-growing large economies of the world. Today we are 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.

The Prime Minister highlighted 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.

PM Modi emphasised the need to work for the future with a new thought process. He said children today are displaying a very advanced degree of talent and we need to be prepared to help and harness their talent.

He asked the academics to validate their experience with verified testing. He asked for evidence-based research. He also asked for research on the demographic dividend of India and find ways to best utilize this and find solutions for the ageing societies of the world. Similarly, resilient infrastructure is another area of research. "National Education Policy' has given us a tool to realize innumerable possibilities which were not available earlier. We need to use it fully, he concluded.