The Hindu Business Line : Thinking leads to a vision, Kalam tells school kids

SOME 800-odd students from as many as 26 schools in and around the city, studying in classes between 8 and 12, were on Wednesday caught in the Kalam magic.

"Thinking is very important, as it leads to a vision for the nation, for progress, and non-thinking is destructive to the individual, organisation and the nation," Mr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, President, said here at an interactive session organised by CII, Eastern Region.

Focussing on education at the primary and tertiary levels for all and inculcation of values for development of the young mind, the President said that the proposed Bill in Parliament, once enacted, would ensure compulsory and free education for all children in the country up to the age of 15.

Exhorting the school children to adopt their teacher as the role model for achieving greater things in life, he said there was no such thing as impossible, especially in science and technology. All one needed was to have an aim and work hard towards its fulfilment, he said. While it was not always necessary to reach for the stars, "it will be a disgrace to have no stars to reach for".

Unveiling his 2020 vision for a fully developed India, he urged the school children to aim big and have a vision that encompasses the five critical areas of agriculture and food-processing, information, communication and technology (ICT), education & healthcare, infrastructure development and self-reliance on critical technology for a prosperous and safe India.

When asked what real education was, the President replied, it is that which helps the child to kindle his creativity and prepare him for greater responsibilities as an adult, and thereby emerge as a good and successful human being. It is necessary to combine education with a proper value system, he added.

Earlier, welcoming the President, Mr Y.C. Deveshwar, National President of CII, said the CII members have been advised to adopt a broader responsibility for providing an "inclusive growth", under which the economic gains could be more equitably shared among all the people. It is in the mind and heart of the young children that a developed India of the future is being shaped, and CII, for its part, wants to provide the leadership momentum to this process, he pointed out.

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