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Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacted with winners of National Teachers Awards at his residence at Lok Kalyan Marg yesterday.

This year, 82 teachers and educators have been selected for the National Teachers Awards from three departments. These include 48 teachers from the Department of School Education and Literacy, 21 teachers/faculty members from Higher Educational Institutions and Polytechnics, and 13 skill trainers from the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. The awardees highlighted the experiences and innovations that have shaped their teaching journey. They shared several creative approaches adopted by them to make classroom learning more engaging and effective.

Prime Minister emphasised that teachers need to look beyond the academic performance of children and be attentive to their behaviour and everyday lives. Referring to the reduction in traditional joint family set-up, he said teachers have an increasingly important role to play in the lives of children. Referring to the issue of drugs, Prime Minister called upon teachers to remain alert to changes in children, identify the cause and help such children overcome the habit.

Prime Minister said that preserving the innocence of childhood is an important role that a teacher can play. He said that children have the same basic nature and curiosity and if teachers nurture and appropriately channelise this curiosity, they can make a significant contribution to their development.

Highlighting the issue of screen time, he said that it has become a major concern. He urged teachers to speak to parents about how much time their children spend on screens and whether they continue using mobile phones late at night. He suggested that children could gradually come out of excessive screen use by developing an interest in sports, physical games and creative activities.

Prime Minister referred to the National Education Policy and stressed the importance of taking children outside the classroom and connecting them with real world skills and forms of work. He also asked teachers to go beyond imparting knowledge about syllabus and help inculcate values such as dignity of labour amongst the children.