Rajesh Chaturvedi told the Super 30 students that India needed to be revived as a hub of knowledge.
Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) Chairman Rajesh Chaturvedi on Wednesday visited Super 30, a programme run by mathematician Anand Kumar for mentoring students from underprivileged families for IIT entrance exam, and interacted with students.
Addressing the students, Mr Chaturvedi said India was the hub of knowledge and education in ancient times and there was great respect for the enlightened minds.
"That needs to be revived to contribute to national development in a meaningful way," he said.
Exhorting students to strive for real knowledge, Mr Chaturvedi said today's education is becoming more elite-centric, though there is immense talent in rural areas and this needs to be nurtured.
"This is the reason I am here at Super 30 today. I wanted to come here to see for myself how it functions so that similar models could be replicated elsewhere for tapping talent to the maximum," the CBSE chief said.
Maintaining that India was good in space and information technologies, he asked why the country could not be good in health, education and urban and village development.
"More and more people need to get involved in nation-building, but this can happen only if students get quality education. However, all cannot become IAS, IPS, engineers and doctors, but at the same time all can have opportunities to excel in their chosen fields," he added.
Mr Chaturvedi said the CBSE may run an aptitude test for Class 10 students to help them know the fields they could do well in and then plan their future accordingly.
"Growing emphasis on English in the post-liberalisation period without creating the wherewithal for teaching the subject has led to mushrooming of English-medium schools, even as government schools have not changed," he added.