Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacted nearly 2300 school and college students including teachers and principals participated in the programme at Talkatora Stadium. He took questions from students present at the event. Students also asked him questions through various television news channels, the Narendra Modi Mobile App, and the MyGov platform.
On the subject of concentration, the Prime Minister recalled the great cricketer Sachin Tendulkar’s advice on the radio programme Mann Ki Baat.
On the subject of peer pressure, he spoke of the importance of “Anuspardha” (competing with oneself), rather than “Pratispardha” (competing with others). He said one should only try to do better than what one had achieved earlier. Noting that every parent sacrifices for his or her child, the Prime Minister urged parents not to make the achievements of their child a matter of social prestige.
Prakash Javadekar said that exam is a non-political issue and is not only confined to school and colleges but is related to life, as every challenge in life is an exam. He further added, it is an important topic as it relates to everybody and we must handle exam pressure with positive attitude and exams should be treated like festivals.
Javadekar also informed that the budget allocation of Rs 1,00,000 crore for Revitalising Infrastructure and Systems in Education (RISE) will also help to step up investment in research and related infrastructure. He also said that the Prime Minister’s Research Fellows (PMRF) scheme will help improving the quality of research by attracting the best talents across the country. The minister added that high technology research labs are being developed to promote brain gain.
Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister of Law & Justice and Electronics & Information Technology, J P Nadda, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Minister for Science & Technology & Earth Sciences and Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Dr Jitendra Singh, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Satya Pal Singh, Minister of State (Higher Education) and Upendra Kushwaha, Minister of State (School Education & Literacy), Meenakshi Lekhi, Member of Parliament were also among the dignitaries present.