PM Narendra Modi interacts with students at a Delhi auditorium.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech to students on Teacher's Day was rich in tips: work hard, play hard, sweat at least four times a day - and be careful about depending too heavily on "Google Guru" which will serve up information but not knowledge, he said, provoking laughs from his young audience. However, he said students must have easy access to technology to help them learn.
(Highlights of PM's Speech)Nearly 700 students in Delhi were gathered in an audience to watch the Prime Minister's speech, which was also telecast on the national channel Doordarshan. Controversially, schools across the country have been asked by the Human Resources Development Ministry to report on how they would ensure students watched the speech. Education Minister Smriti Irani insisted there was no diktat for schools -private and public -to make students watch the speech, but a circular issued by her department suggests otherwise. (
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"Feedback would be taken immediately after the programme on the number of children and number of schools who were able to view or listen to the PM's address," says the letter, which was sent to the Education Secretaries of all states. Several critics say the government's instructions carry a thinly-veiled threat of penalty for schools that don't comply.
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