Bengaluru: Education can help in nurturing the spirit of peaceful co-existence and acceptance of diversity and should aim at building character, President Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday said.
"Education is just not injecting some information in the mind of a student... aim of education should be building character," he said.
The President said education helps in instilling capacity, building faith, peaceful co-existence, rationality of mind, and developing scientific temper. "It also helps to nurture culture, the spirit of co-existence and acceptance of diversity," Mukherjee said, speaking at the closing ceremony of the sesquicentennial (150 years) celebrations of Bishop Cotton Boys' School here.
The President said once such good values are inculcated in the minds of young boys and girls through education they will imbibe it in practises of their lives and become good citizens.
Complimenting the founders and management of the School for having successfully completed 150 years of service to the cause of education, Mukherjee said schools should instill in their students "commitment to our core civilizational values that includes love for motherland."
He also pointed out that the alumni of the school include eminent personalities such as late General K S Thimayya, who served as Chief of Army Staff from 1957 to 1961 in the crucial years leading up to the conflict with China in 1962, and renowned nuclear scientist Dr Raja Ramanna, among others.
The event was attended by Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Home Minister G Parameshwara among others.
