Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday advised parents and teachers to give students the freedom to decide their future their follow their dreams and not bring them under excessive pressure to score high marks.
“The unfulfilled dreams of parents and teachers should not be forced upon children. They should be allowed to decide their future freely and follow their dreams," said PM Modi while interacting with students during the fifth edition of 'Pariksha Pe Charcha' at Delhi's Talkatora Stadium.
He pointed out that "parents sometimes fail to closely observe the strength and interests of their children. We should understand that every child is blessed with something extraordinary that parents and teachers fail to discover a lot of times."
PM Modi also offered tips to students on shunning distractions like social media while preparing for exams.
"Make sure there are moments in the day when you are neither online nor offline, but just in-line," he remarked.
"Use online to improve your fundamentals and thus enhance your offline education as well. Online will help you broaden your studies but if you are getting distracted, use tools in your gadgets to keep yourself disciplined," he advised.
"To reflect and work on yourself is as important as using gadgets," he pointed out.
The Prime Minister further explained that online education is based on the principle of attaining knowledge while offline education is regarding sustaining that knowledge and practically applying it further.
Stating that skills are quite important across the world, the Prime Minister said, " Technology is not a bane, it should be used effectively. Today students are developing 3D printers and running apps for Vedic mathematics. They're efficiently using technology."
Further highlighting that outdated ideas and policies from the 20th century cannot guide the country's development trajectory in the 21st century, the Prime Minister said, "We have to change with the times.
NEP should be called 'National Education Policy. So many people were involved in drafting the policy. We were brainstorming on it for the last 6-7 years. We took the advice of teachers and students from far-flung areas along with modern intellectuals," he explained.
The Prime Minister also advised students to find out what makes them happy and indulge in activities they enjoy to keep themselves motivated.
"There is no injection or formula for motivation. Instead, discover yourself better. Find out what makes you happy and work on that. Do things that you enjoy," he explained..
Pariksha Pe Charcha is an annual event in which the Prime Minister interacts with students to highlight ways to ease mental stress due to the examination season and gives them a pep-talk in a live programme.
