Tokyo:
At a 136-year-old school in Tokyo, Prime Minister
Narendra Modi today interacted with Japanese school children, was given a presentation on that country's education system and emerged from the session to say, "I feel enlightened now."
Mr Modi, who will hold talks later today with Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, said he came to the Taimei Elementary School as its "oldest student," to "understand how modernisation, moral education and discipline has been blended into Japan's education system."
(Also Read: After Kyoto Bonhomie, PM Modi, Shinzo Abe Get Down To Business Today)He entered a classroom where little children sang for him. They bowed as he was leaving and Mr Modi bowed back.
At the school, Mr Modi invited Japanese teachers, even retired ones, to India to teach their language and proposed online courses as part of his pitch for enhanced cooperation in languages and social values among Asian countries, noting that the whole world recognises that the 21st century would belong to Asia.
He made queries, including how the syllabus was constructed here, whether tests are the only criteria for promotion, whether punishment is awarded to students and how moral education is imparted to them.
The Prime Minister was given a detailed presentation by Deputy Minister for Education, Maekawa Kehai about how Japan's education system, particularly the one run by the government, works.
The Taimei Elementary school was destroyed by an earthquake and was later reconstructed. "I know what it is when schools are destroyed due to quakes. I recall what happened in Anjar on 26th January, 2001," said Mr Modi, recalling the deadly earthquake that year in Gujarat, of which he was chief minister for 13 years before taking over as Prime Minister.