Emphasising the need for education that is based on culture to make society civilised and capable, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday asked teachers to make gurus such as Chanakya, Vashishtha, and Vishwamitra as their role models.
Speaking at a programme here, the chief minister said, ''No nation can be strong without a civilised society.'' ''For this, education will have to be made culture-based. There should be a feeling of self-discipline within individuals, they should develop a feeling of considering issues related to society and nation as their own issues. All these feelings can be assimilated through the medium of education,'' he said.
Adityanath said the character of people will be based on the education they get and the direction a society and a country will take will depend on the character of its people.
''The entire responsibility of building a strong and powerful nation depends on your hard work. If you want, you can take the country to new heights,'' he told the gathering of teachers.
''If anyone should be the ideal of a teacher, it should be Chanakya, Guru Vashishtha, Vishwamitra, Rishi Sandipan, and Bhardwaj,'' he said.
''Guru Vashishtha aur Vishwamitra nahi hote toh kya Ram ho patey? (Had it not been for Guru Vashishtha and Vishwamitra, would Lord Ram have existed?) If Chanakya had not existed, would Chandragupta Maurya been there? If Guru Sandipan had not been there, would we have been able to find Krishna? There are many such examples in India,'' Adityanath said.
The chief minister said a child can be seen fulfilling his role as a capable and civilised citizen ''under the guidance of good teachers''.
''There should be a method of evaluating one's work, if it is not there then the person is cheating on himself. He might be betraying society and the nation as well. If we do not think two steps ahead of where society is thinking today, we will lag behind,'' said Adityanath.
''If we adopt the attitude of adapting ourselves to the times, better results will emerge. Evaluate your work on a monthly, quarterly, half-yearly, and annual basis,'' he added.
The chief minister during the programme introduced smart classes in 1,086 council schools and distributed tablets to 14,360 teachers of primary and composite schools and assistive devices to 1,207 disabled children.
Referring to the state government's work in the field of education, Adityanath said, ''The collective efforts of all have brought about new changes in the Basic Education Council and a positive tendency of adapting to the times.'' The chief minister said that 1,64,000 teachers have been recruited during the last six years, adding programmes like Operation Kayakalp, Nipun Bharat, and School Chalo Abhiyan have also been launched.
