Log Into Technology But Don’t Shun Social Life, Sports, PM Tells Students
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday that while students should be encouraged to use technology, they should also participate in sports and social activities.
The Prime Minister, who is on a three-day visit to Gujarat, warned children against focusing solely on online activities, noting that sports are a part of education, not just another extracurricular activity, under the New Education Policy.
PM Modi began his visit to Gujarat by visiting the “Vidya Samiksha Kendra,” or Command and Control Centre for Schools, in Gandhinagar, which collects and analyses over 500 billion data sets from schools each year in order to improve overall learning outcomes for students.
The World Bank has designated the centre as a global best practise and has invited other countries to visit and learn about it.
“You’ve all reaped the benefits of technological advancements. We are fortunate to live in an era when technology is simple to use and understand. All of the world’s doors will open up to you once you take an interest in it “PM Modi made the remarks while video conferencing with teachers and students from some government schools.
“Children should be encouraged to use technology…but not to the point where everything is online and nothing is offline. Without tasting the ‘jaggery,’ how will (a child) know whether it is sweet? He’ll have to consume it in real life to do so. Sports, social life are other such things that should not be forgotten,” he said.
PM Modi inquired about the experience and interest of teachers and students in technology during the meeting.
He inquired about students’ experiences with DIKSHA (Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing and Sharing), a national portal for school education. The Prime Minister also wanted to know whether the new data collection system has added to teachers’ workload.
Under the Centre’s Poshan Abhiyaan, which is India’s flagship scheme to improve the nutritional outcomes of adolescents, children, pregnant women, and lactating mothers, PM Modi proposed an interactive system targeted at students to raise awareness about their calorie requirements.
The PM wanted to know if teachers can prepare children for a system that will help them understand their daily calorie requirements and whether they have received enough calories based on the food they eat.
The Prime Minister believes that such a system will help students become more aware of their individual calorie needs.Manish Sisodia, the Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi, recently visited a government school in Bhavnagar, Gujarat, and criticised its poor infrastructure and lack of a permanent teacher.
The comments by Mr Sisodia, who is in charge of education in the Delhi government, were interpreted as an attempt by the AAP to make education a major issue in the Gujarat Assembly elections, which are due by the end of the year.
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