School environment should be free from fear: PM

TEACHERS-PM

New Delhi, Sept 4 (PTI) With some incidents of harsh
punishments meted out to children apparently weighing heavy on
his mind,Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said the
school environment should be "free from fear, trauma and
anxiety" to make the Right to Education (RTE) a grand national
movement.
"The RTE Act bans corporal punishment and mental
harassment. It also bans detention and expulsion. These
provisions have led many teachers to question how discipline
will be maintained in the classroom," he said.
Addressing the National Award winning teachers at his
residence on the eve of Teacher's Day, Singh said that no
child, irrespective of caste, gender or community should dread
the thought of going to school.
Every year September 5, the birth anniversary of
former President Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, is celebrated as
Teacher's Day.
He said that the answer to the issue of maintaining
discipline was given by philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti who
said, "Discipline is an easy way to control a child, but it
does not help him to understand the problems involved in
living...If the teacher can give full attention to each child,
observing and helping him, then compulsion or domination or
discipline in any form may be unnecessary".
Noting that the government was committed to providing
quality education to all, Singh said that time has come to
ensure that every child in the country has the opportunity to
exercise his or her right to an education of equitable quality
and making the RTE a "grand national movement".
"The educational system in our country is at a very
critical juncture," the Prime Minister said stressing the need
to maintain the fine balance between tradition and continuity
between tradition and modernity on the one hand, and
innovation and change on the other.
Observing that teachers as front-line participants in
educational reforms and nation's "most precious national
resource", he said, "Sadly, teachers are often excluded from
policy-making, governance and management of our educational
system as also from day-to-day instructional strategies and
decision making. MORE PTI MS
AHM


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