Pune: “The State government will be celebrating November 7 as Students' Day in Maharashtra from this year to commemorate the first day at school by the chief architect of our Constitution Bharat Ratna Dr BR Ambedkar,” said President Ram Nath Kovind.
He said that on November 7, 1900, Dr Ambedkar enrolled for school education at Pratapsingh High School in Satara district, 117 years ago.
President Kovind was speaking while delivering an inaugural speech of Sadhu Vaswani International School Pradhikaran (SVISP) at Sadhu Vaswani Mission, Camp on Wednesday.
The President formally inaugurated the SVISP. Kovind said, “Sadhu Vaswani, the iconic spiritual leader, was one among the remarkable nation-builders. He taught us to combine the values of the ancient civilisation with techniques of the modern age.”
Marking the ongoing centenary celebrations of Dada JP Vaswani and the inaugural function of the Sadhu Vaswani International School Pradhikaran, notable dignitaries including C Vidyasagar Rao, Governor of Maharashtra, Prakash Javadekar, Union HRD Minister, LK Advani, former Deputy Prime Minister, Girish Bapat, Guardian Minister of Pune district, Anil Shirole, Member of Parliament, Nitin Karmalkar, Vice Chancellor, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Dr SB Mujumdar, Founder of Symbiosis International University, Purvez Grant, Chairman, Ruby Hall, Ajay Piramal, Piramal Group and Ramesh and Suman Tulsiani of Tulsiani Group were present on the occasion.
Javadekar, in his speech said, “In today’s era comprehensive, analytical education is needed. There are more syllables than lifestyle education and creative learning which is an important factor in education field currently. Slowly the education field will be more into creative learning than being only in books.”
Vaswani expressed his thoughts saying, “Collapse of education is the collapse of the nation. The type of education that we are giving to students in schools and colleges is all in words, it does not transform the lives of students. Science is marching on but the problems of India and the world will not be solved unless we have illumined hearts. The students need to be taught that life is larger than the livelihood.”
“I believe, five things are important for true education. I call them the five fingers of true education - character building, service (seva) of the poor and the broken ones, love for the Indian ideals, reverence for all life and cultivation of the soul,” Vaswani added.
