The Vice President, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu, today called for imparting value-based education to children, with emphasis on Indian culture and heritage. He stressed that ‘education is meant for empowerment, enlightenment and employment not for mere acquisition of degrees and certificates.’

Deploring the commercialisation of education, he said that education and medicine were treated as missions in the olden days. Education must produce socially conscious and responsible citizens who will strive selflessly for the larger good of the society and the country. “Nobody will remember if you love  yourself but you will become immortal if you live for others, then you will live long in the memory of others”, he added.

Shri Naidu was participating in the diamond jubilee celebrations of Sri Patibandla Seetharamaiah High School, Guntur. Addressing the students, teachers and parents, the Vice President stressed the importance of holistic education. Equal attention must be paid to physical fitness and activities like gardening. He reiterated the need to accord priority to imparting education in mother tongue. It is important to be proficient in one’s mother tongue, while learning other languages.

Expressing his concern over the declining values in society, Shri Naidu appealed to people to elect and support public representatives with 4 Cs— character, capacity, conduct (good) and calibre. He also stressed  the need for people’s representatives to possess discipline and commitment to people’s welfare. The Vice President added he wished to see India as a strong and powerful nation,  ‘where there is no hunger, no illiteracy and no discrimination’.

Later, the Vice President visited the Annamayya Library in Guntur, which has a rich collection of 2 lakh books , including some rare ones, on wide-ranging subjects. Shri Naidu said that every village must have a library and called for inculcating reading habit among children from an early age.

Dr. Yalamanchili Sivaji, Former Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha, Shri Govinda Rajulu Chintala, Chairman, NABARD, Shri Ganta Subbarao, Headmaster, President, School Management Committee, Shri Patibandla Vishnu Vardhan, Secretary and Correspondent, Sri Patibandla Seetharamaiah High School, Guntur and others were present during the event.

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MS/RK