Shri Modi affirmed, “The child of Gujarat, their lives and future are of utmost importance and we need your help in shaping their lives. It is about the future.” Summing up the essence of the training the Chief Minister declared, “After this training when you go among your students, they must feel inspired and can learn something new.” He also urged the teachers to understand the essence of this effort closely.
In his speech, the Chief Minister asked the teachers to inspire their students to do creative things. Recalling an anecdote from his childhood the Chief Minister said, “I remember one of my teachers did something new. He kept a diary and asked the person who came first to write the first sentence. Then, the rest followed suit. We saw that the students were really excited to come and write the first sentence. Later, the teacher read out the sentences and we were shocked that we wrote all that,” and further said, “It was a teacher that inspired us to think, put our thoughts and these were no expert professors but school teachers.”
The Chief Minister told the teachers that they have got an excellent opportunity to shape the lives of youngsters and they must not let go of it. Recalling an experience during one of his Gunotsav visits he stated, “I went to meet local teachers during Gunotsav. Usually the Chief Minister does not meet teachers so they were all surprised. During the meeting one teacher started crying. I asked what happened? The teacher said both my husband and I are teaching in this school for the last seven years but if we had taught properly, you would not have had to come.” Shri Modi went on to say, “You need not do anything more. Even if you do perform your basic responsibilities there is no way your school cannot get A grade.”
Urging teachers not to let problems affect the child, Shri Modi declared, “Agitations and your demands are understandable, we can sort all of that out by talking but we cannot sacrifice the future of our little students, which is of prime importance. There may be problems but there is no fault of the child.” Shri Modi talked about the need for teachers to have a spirit of positivity in their lives so that they can wonderfully perform their role of making students powerhouses of knowledge.
Shri Modi pointed to the importance of the spirit of community and togetherness and how that is possibly in decline these days. He said, “We need to get the society towards Samoohikta. Earlier this was prevalent but today children are restricted to their own television, own games…the time of playing together is going. The West is taking great efforts to discover this sprit of Samoohikta but for us, it has been a part of our culture. You as teachers must think of how the entire class can flourish together as a community. Again, this is not in the syllabus but it is about living for the society and doing something for the nation.”
Shri Modi recalled how after becoming the Chief Minister he invited all his teachers and honoured them. He also urged the primary school teachers to interact with him through social media such as Twitter and Facebook.
Teachers listening to Shri Modi's speech at Shahpur Municipal School, Ahmedabad
Teachers listening to Shri Modi's speech at Shahpur Municipal School, Ahmedabad
