Bengaluru: Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi’s interaction with students on Teachers’ Day was a big hit with the students of the city. All the private schools affiliated to CBSE participated in the event while hundreds of state affiliated schools, including government schools, joined in. According to officials, all the CBSE schools of the city, Kendriya Vidyalayas, prestigious private schools including DPS, Christ College, Gopalan National School, Blossoms School etc organised the event. Students attended in their school uniforms. Even though there was no opportunity to ask Mr. Modi questions, they enjoyed the answers given by the Prime Minister to various issues raised by the students.
Mr. Mansoor Khan of the DPS group of schools said it was an interesting programme. “Our students enjoyed it. Senior students attended the event today. We have recorded the event and the juniors will watch it on Saturday and Monday,” he said. “It was a good initiative.” Dr. Peter McLaughlin, Headmaster, The Doon School, who watched the event, praised the programme. “I fully endorse and echo the Prime Minister's question about why so few students want to become teachers.
This is perhaps the greatest and most difficult socio-economic deficit his government has to tackle. Enhanced technological provision and the ‘Google guru’ can be part of the answer, but without knowledgeable, inspirational and skilled classroom teachers, as well as credible teachers’ training programmes, all attempts at educational reform will flounder,” he said. According to Hariprakash, a student from Green High School, the PM’s suggestions were practical and he won the hearts of the students by keeping every suggestion simple. “He should have allowed the students from all the states to ask questions. But it was still a super programme. I enjoyed every bit of it,” he said.
Mr. D Shashikumar of Blossoms School, where more than 500 students attended the live screening, said the children were happy after watching the event. “If they were at home they would have never watched the programme. It was a good way of celebrating teachers’ day,” he said. Mr. Ravin K.T., a teacher working with a private aided school, said it was a short and sweet event. Poor response in government schools: In state government schools, Modi’s interactive programme received a lukewarm response. An officer from the DPI said a few schools didn’t telecast the event, while in the rest of the schools, student participation was average. “The main issue was the language barrier. Most of the students who attended the event could not understand Hindi,” he explained.
