SPEECH
BY SHRI K.R. NARAYANAN, PRESIDENT OF INDIA, AT THE PRESENTATION OF NATIONAL
AWARDS TO TEACHERS -1998
NEW DELHI, SUNDAY,
SEPTEMBER 5, 1999
First
of all, I would like to congratulate all those who have received the National
Awards for Teachers today. The Teachers' Day is a unique institution in
India. Perhaps we are one of the few countries who have set up such a
day in honour of the teachers.
As
you know this is also the birthday of our second President Dr. Sarvepalli
Radhakrishnan, who was a great teacher, a great intellectual and a philosopher.
It is appropriate that we should remember teachers of the country in association
with his name, because he was the one who spread the message of India
and Indian philosophy to the west and brought the two streams of thought
together.
It
is in our tradition to honour teachers because as a nation we have been
devoted to our teachers for ages. Today in economic and social theories
human development is given primary importance and in the field of human
development, the teachers are the principal instruments. We cannot think
of any human development without the contribution of teachers. Pandit
Jawaharlal Nehru once said in his Basic Approach, "... in the final analysis,
it is the quality of the human beings that counts. It is man that builds
up the wealth of a nation, as well as its cultural progress. Hence education
and health are of high importance so as to produce that quality in the
human beings". He believed in investment in man more than investment in
material things.
Long
before the theories of human development as the principal thing in life
has been propounded by economists and social scientists, we have been
devoted to the concept of human development, the importance of education,
of learning as a method of developing man and perfecting him for the task
of life. This traditional reverence to teachers is something which every
teacher must have experienced for himself. I recollect that when I was
in Hanoi, as the Head of the Mission there, I gave a party to the Members
of the Military Wing of the International Commission serving there. Among
them, there was a Major, a very dashing young man, with an impressive
moustache. He came to the party and I found him in spite of his dashing
appearance, to be a very timid and obedient looking person. Later on,
I asked his friends why he has been so quiet and timid. Then I was told
that he was one of my students in Trivandrum. I taught for a very brief
period, for three months in the University college, and he happened to
be a student there and because of this very remote relationship, he was
throughout the party very quiet and extremely respectful in his demeanor.
This
is our tradition and I must say that this traditional attachment to the
values of the teacher as a guru survives even today. I think it was this
year that an opinion poll was taken in India which asked two or three
questions regarding respectability, contributions to society and the social
recognition of different professions in India. On the question about the
most respected profession, teachers took fourth position, much above politicians,
film artists, government officials and such dignified people. And there
was another question concerning the profession which makes the greatest
contribution to society. Here teachers occupied the second position much
above other professions. Another question was asked to know about the
profession which deserves greater recognition by society. In this teachers
took the second place. And therefore, in spite of all that is happening
in our country and the general decline of values, the veneration of the
teacher survives as a principal value of our people. But teachers have
to preserve this position. We are lucky that this traditional reverence
survives even today. But in order to preserve this position the teachers
have to be up to the mark.
Today
the students, even young primary school students, know a lot through TV
and other means like newspapers, etc. And therefore apart from setting
an example to the younger generation, teachers have to keep themselves
up-to-date in knowledge.
Rabindranath
Tagore used to say that "when I teach anything, I do it with love". Therefore
the secret of the teacher's profession, the secret of their success, or
the respect they earn in life is their approach to teaching through love.
In 1956, Jawaharlal Nehru wrote to the Chief Ministers of India and it
is worth quoting him today. He said, "Let us remember that the school
is essentially the teacher, not the building... This is a simple and obvious
proposition, and yet it is ignored... The main thing is the teacher. Let
us train him better and give him a higher salary and some amenities. The
rest will follow... It is the teacher that counts, and everything else
is secondary. If you want good teachers, we have to give them simple amenities
of life, and we have to give them something that is even more valuable,
the respect due to a person who is charged with the greatest task of all,
the moulding of human beings." This is the task which has been assigned
to the teachers and to fulfill this task today when values are in confusion
and traditions are fast changing, it is important that teachers should
equip themselves with modern knowledge and also set themselves as an example
to the younger generation.
Apart from teaching, dissemination of values
is one of the primary functions of the teachers. We have great values
enshrined in our Constitution and traditionally developed by our civilisation.
These values of democracy, of secularism, of tolerance and kindness to
other human beings have to be inculcated in the younger generation by
the teachers. This is a lasting contribution they can make to the future.
Especially today, it is important to teach them the meaning of toleration,
to teach them that we live in a pluralist society among immense diversities
and therefore there should be sympathy and understanding of the view points
of other people, to avoid the approach of bigotry in life. If a teacher
does not fulfill this function, as some great educationist has observed
that "The classrooms can be factories for manufacturing of bombs", not
physical bombs but intellectual bombs. Their approach could be so explosive
to life, if they are not taught these elementary values to which we as
a nation have been dedicated.
And
today while I congratulate the awardees and the teachers in general, I
should appeal to them to live upto the expectations the younger generation
and our people have of them.
One
has heard about absentee teachers or teachers subletting their jobs etc.
This may be a great aberration. But such aberrations have to be somehow
avoided, if one has to maintain the respect that the people have in their
teachers.
I would like to
congratulate all of you who have earned this award by your life long
devotion to education, to the moulding of children and the restoration
of values in society. May I once again congratulate you all.
Thank you.
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