COMPLETE TEXT OF SPEECH BY DR APJ ABDUL KALAM ON 20 DEC 2010 AT DELHI

 Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, www.abdulkalam.com 

Address and interaction with the teachers of The Army Schools New Delhi 20 December 2010 

Evolution of Great Teachers and thereby Evolution of purposeful education. 

 "Show me so that I can stand on your shoulders. Reveal yourself so that I can be Something different".

  I am delighted to participate in this function organized by the Army Institute of Education as part of the celebration of the National Education Day. I am very happy to know one of the focal areas of today's event is towards spreading value-based education to build a better nation. My best wishes to the organizers of the movement and best wishes for pursuing this very important mission. I strongly believe that it is education which can transform the children into enlightened citizens, and the nation and world needs such enlightened citizens for a sustainable and prosperous future. My greetings to all teachers, organizers, staff, students and supporters of value based education present here. 

When I am in the midst of all of you, I would like to talk on the topic "Evolution of Great Teachers and thereby evolution of purposeful education” . Dear teacher friends, since there are 100s of students also here, I would like you to listen my way of interaction with the students. You may have to impart the significant of knowledge, which has got multi components to make a good human being. This knowledge equation has to be taught in the class rooms. Let me interact with the students.

 Knowledge and its components (Knowledge Equation) Knowledge has three components, creativity, righteousness and courage. That the combination of these characteristics can generate enlightened citizens. Let us look at the first component creativity: 

Creativity.

 "Learning gives creativity, 

 Creativity leads to thinking,

 Thinking provides knowledge,

 Knowledge makes you great"

 The next component of knowledge is righteousness. The power of Righteousness is described in a divine hymn, which is as follows:

 Righteousness.

 Where there is righteousness in the heart,

 There is beauty in the character.

 When there is beauty in the character, 

There is harmony in the home. 

When there is harmony in the home.

 There is order in the nation. 

When there is order in the nation,

 There is peace in the world. 

Who will give the righteousness? only three people can give. Who are they? They are: Father, Mother in a spiritual environment and a primary school teacher. 

The third component in the knowledge equation is courage, which is defined as follows: 

COURAGE.

 Courage to think different, 

Courage to invent, 

Courage to travel into an unexplored path, 

Courage to discover the impossible, 

Courage to combat the problems And succeed, 

are the unique qualities of the youth. 

As a youth of my nation, I will work and work with courage to achieve success in all the missions. 

Hence teacher friends, I am sure you have realized, how the knowledge equation is important to the students. This is the great intellectual wealth to every student after the schooling education. I personally believe, the knowledge equation is the important component in evolving good citizen of the nation. 

In the morning meeting of the school, students can take an oath with teachers:

"I will be a good member of my family, a good member of the society, a good member of the nation and a good member of the world".

Now let me discuss and interact with the teacher friends. I will be discussing with the following aspects:

 1 Creative class room

 2 Dynamic School 

3 Mission of Teaching

 4 Teachers who love teaching 

5 Vision for the school

 6 Dynamics of Smile 

7 An ideal teacher 

8 Mission in life

 9 And in conclusion — 11 points oath for the teachers. 

Creative class room .

I have always liked to sit in a class. When I visit schools and colleges in India and abroad, I would like to see, how teacher teaches and students interact. Recently, I was in Andhra Pradesh, in a one teacher school class room up to Vth class. I was with the students. The teacher was teaching, how children can be always happy? Dear children you see the full moon, the beautiful scene in the sky which brings smiles and cheers. Remember, you smile the family also smiles. How many of you keep your parents happy? The whole class lifted their hands, they said, they will do it. I also lifted my hands with the Vth class students. Another experience, during my visit to UAE, I inaugurated an Indian school named JSS International School, Dubai. When the preparation was going on for the inaugural function, I was moving from place to place in the school, particularly I visited class rooms where number of students from Class V and Class VI were being taught by a teacher. As soon as the teacher saw me, she asked me to take the class. I went to the black board and I started interacting with the students. Instead of loading them with the lessons. I asked the children, our sun (star) has how many planets? Many hands went up. One girl said, there are nine planets and some students said, there are eight planets. I said, the right answer is eight planets, since the ninth planet Pluto has been removed from the list of planets, because it does not meet the criteria of a planet, in size, weight and orbital motion. I asked one student, tell me which is our planet. There was a chorus answer "Earth". Who will talk about the earth? One Vlth class student got up and said, our earth rotates on its own axis. Many students said, it takes 24 hours for one orbit that's how we get day and night. I was very pleased with the knowledge of the young on the solar system. Then I asked the class, what does the earth do, there was pin drop silence. Again, a Vth class student said, earth orbits around the sun. How much time it takes to complete the one orbit? Many hands went up, they said 365 days. Our Sun belongs to which Galaxy? Only one boy responded, Milky Way. How much time our Sun takes for one orbit of our Galaxy? No response. Of course, it is difficult. I gave the answer 200 million years. Children had a great surprise. I was impressed with the class and greeted them and left. I am giving you these examples to illustrate, how the students can be encouraged to be creative which is required to build their self-confidence. I am sure, the educators assembled here may be adopting several methods to make the class dynamic and creative. 

Now, let me present my visualization for a dynamic school system. By the presence and partnership of the teachers, I am sure we will lead to the evolution of a dynamic school.

 Dynamic school 

1. A school that radiates greatness by the teaching capacity of the teachers.

 2. A school is great because creativity is bubbling everywhere. 

3. A school is great, because it cherishes the learning environment with library, internet, e-learning and creative laboratories.

4. A School is great, because it creates and generate students with confidence that "I can do it" that in-turn will generate the team spirit that "We will do it" and "India will do it".

 5. A School that promotes best in learning all-round to all the students. 

6. A School is great because it has teachers who lead a unique way of life with purity and become role models for the students and develop them as enlightened citizens.

7. A School is great because it has the capacity to teach all students to succeed.

 8. A School that generates creativity among all students irrespective of whether they belong to arts or science stream. 

9. A school is great, that generates alumni who cherish that they belong to this school. 

The teachers and educational specialists assembled here can contribute in many of the above aspects in evolving dynamic school within two years.

 Mission of Teaching

When I look at you dear friends, I see one integrated system of education, system of learning and system of knowledge. The seeds of peace in the world have their origin in the righteousness in the heart of every individual. Such righteous citizens lead to the evolution of enlightened society. Education with value system has to be so designed that the righteousness in the heart is developed in young minds. That should be the mission of education. The prime learning environment is five to seventeen years of age for over 25,000 hours. This reminds me of a Greek teacher's saying, "Give me a child for seven years; afterwards, let God or devil take the child. They cannot change the child". This indicates the power of great teachers. True education is the acquisition of enlightened feelings and enlightened powers to understand daily events and to understand the permanent truth by linking citizen, to his environment, human and planet we live. I would like to quote from the great philosopher Dr S. Radhakrishnan particularly for the benefit of students and teachers - "The sense of human need is there and the teacher can satisfy it by giving to the youth an idea of the fundamental power and worth of man, his spiritual dignity as man, a supranational culture and an all-embracing humanity." 

Let us now hear the tribute given by the great teacher Albert Einstein to his teacher: "The ideals which have lighted my way, time after time, have given new course to face life cheerfully have been kindness, beauty and truth". This is the mission of teacher. By nature, if the student has studied in a particular school, they cherish the memories. For example, in the institution the teacher belongs, have created 100s and 1000s of alumni depending upon the school strength. The successful alumni remember the school with veneration and desires to contribute; apart from enrichment of student's life with knowledge. 

Teachers who love teaching 

I just see a scene in a school having about 50 teachers and 750 students. It is simply a place of beauty for creativity and learning. How is it possible? It is because the school management selected the teachers who love teaching, who treat the students as their sons, grandsons or granddaughters. The children see the teacher, as a role model for learning and how always they look pious through their daily way of life. Above all, I see an environment in which there is nothing like a good student, average student or poor student. The whole school and teaching system are involved in generating students who perform the best. 

Primary school teacher:

 As an example, I recall my teacher Shri Sivasubramania lyer who taught me, when I was ten-year-old boy, how the birds fly, in the class room and later by taking us to the sea shore to give practical example. The way he taught, gave me what to dream in life and what should be the pattern of education which I have to follow. And above all what should be the traits I should possess based on teachers’ life both inside the class room and in the village. When my teacher Shri Sivasubramania lyer walks in the classroom, we see in light of knowledge and we see in him, the purity of life. This type of race of teachers and educationists should multiply. 

Moral science class: 

While I was in college, I remember the lectures given by the highest authority of a Jesuit institution Rev Father Rector Kalathil of St. Joshep's college, Tiruchirappalli, Southern India. Every Monday, he will take a class for an hour. He used to talk about good human beings present and past and what makes a good human being. In this class he used to give lectures on personalities such as Buddha, Confucius, St. Augustine, Califa Omar, Mahatma Gandhi, Einstein, Abraham Lincoln and moral stories linked to our civilizational heritage. In the moral science class, Father Kalathil used to highlight the best aspect of, how the great personalities have been evolved as good human beings through parental care, teaching and companionship of great books. Even though these lessons were given to me in 1950's during my college days, they inspire me even today. It is essential that in the schools and colleges, lectures are given by great teachers of the institution once in a week for one hour on civilizational heritage and derived value system. This may be called as Moral Science Class that will elevate the young minds to love the country, to love the other human beings and elevate them to higher planes. 

Vision for the School 

Vision does it reflect a school having a big building, having a big laboratory or having a big infrastructure? Not at all. Great schools will have great teachers who love teaching and with great vision. The vision should be to make a beautiful school, generating righteous youth, happy youth who are professionally sound and morally upright. Hence, it should generate quality youth who are an asset to the nation. Can the Schools create a Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Nobel Laureate Sir CV Raman, a great mathematician Ramanujan, a great pain remover Mother Theresa, a great economist Amarthya Sen or a Poet Bharathiar? Can you generate the environment needed for promoting the creativity leading to development of such type of personalities by the school? This will be a great contribution to the nation and the world. According to me, the best school is one where the students complete the school up to 10+2 after 25000 hours of education in the campus. The student has to become full-fledged responsible citizen for the nation who will be able to realize his or her dreams and not be frightened of any problem. He should be groomed to be physically fit, academically sound with capacities for research and inquiry, innovation, use of high moral and entrepreneurial leadership. He should be emotionally mature and spiritually awakened. For nurturing such an individual, what is the role and what should be the vision of the young teachers like all of you? Teachers should have a one-line statement of vision "my vision is to give to the student's all-round capability that is always creative, observant, aim to acquire knowledge continuously leading to the generation of an excellent performer with sterling character built with the unique tradition of the school". In this process, the education system has to develop the five minds as described in the book "Five Minds" for the future by Howard Gardner.

 a) The disciplinary mind: mastery of mind in different schools of thought including science mathematics and history and proficiency in at least one professional craft. 

b) The synthesizing mind: ability to integrate ideas from different disciplines or spheres into a coherent whole and to communicate to others. 

c) The creative mind: capacity to uncover and clarify new problems, questions and phenomenon. 

d) The respectful mind: awareness of and for differences among human beings. 

e) The ethical mind: fulfilment of one’s responsibility as a worker and a citizen. 

To develop these five minds, one need not change the syllabus of the school. The culture of the school and vision of the school and the teacher's way of life will imbibe these five minds among the students.

 Dynamics of Smile 

When we see a child, we see the innocent smile of the child. When we come across, the child in the Primary School, the smile is reduced, since the child has to carry a heavy school bag. When we see the child in their teens, their smile slowly fades away and the sign of concern appears. This is because of the anxiety about the future. When they complete their education, the question uppermost in their mind is, what will I do after my education? Will I get an employment? Will I get a proper employment? Can the teachers see these dynamics of smiles of the child and preserve the smile in their faces when they complete their school education? The student should be confident that "he can do it", he should have the self-esteem and the capability to become an employment generator rather being an employment seeker. This transformation can only be brought about by a teacher who has a vision to transform, who has the ability to take risk against all challenges, who is a good listener, who is a good innovator, who maintains a cordial interpersonal or intrapersonal relationship and who has the ability to carry the parents, community, media and the stakeholders for accomplishing the vision of generating an enlightened citizen for the nation. 

Now let me share my views of an ideal teacher. 

An ideal Teacher 

Some time back, I met a teacher who have become a role model to all his students. I asked him what was the secret of his success. He told me the following: a) He has been able to adopt himself to the age of the student. b) He practices everything he expects his students to do. c) He ensures transparency in all his transactions and treats all students alike, irrespective of their religion, caste, language and economic status. d) He has a foresight and visualizes the student's growth in long term perspective. e) During the 11 years of his tenure, he has ensured that at least 2000 students who were average performers have been groomed to excel in their studies. I am sure many educationists and teachers assembled here would reflect these characteristics and also add few more important traits.

 Mission in Life

 Dear friends, when I visualize the students whom you are grooming, I see in them great teachers, great doctors, great engineers, great social workers, great judges, and great political leaders. Let me share with you, what are the traits needed to accomplish these goals based on my experience. I have seen three dreams which have taken shape as vision, mission and realization. Firstly, space programme of ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation), AGNI programme of DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) and PURA (Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas) becoming the National Mission. Of course, these three programmes succeeded in the midst of many challenges and problems. I have worked in these areas. I want to convey to you what I have learnt from these three programmes based on my personal experience.

 a. Wherever there is a dream in life, that transforms into a vision and vision takes shape as many missions. 

b. The necessity of high-level thinking to transform the Vision into Missions.

 c. Acquisition of knowledge from all sources. 

d. Working and working without boundary conditions till the realization of the mission.

e. Leader absorbs the failure and takes the responsibility and gives the credit for success to his team while executing the Mission. I am sure, the teachers assembled here will create leaders with these qualities in their students.

 Conclusion

I have designed an eleven-point oath for the teachers which I would like to administer to this important gathering. 

Eleven Point Oath for Teachers 

1. First and foremost, I will love teaching. Teaching will be my soul. 

2. I realize that I am responsible for shaping not just students but ignited youths who are the most powerful resource under the earth, on the earth and above the earth. I will be fully committed for the great mission of teaching.

3. I will consider myself to be a great teacher for I can lift the average to the best performance by way of my special teaching.

 4. All my actions with my students will be with kindness and affection like a mother, sister, father or brother. 

5. I will organize and conduct my life, in such a way that my life itself is a message for my students. 

6. I will encourage my students to ask questions and develop the spirit of enquiry, so that they blossom into creative enlightened citizens. 

7. I will treat all the students equally and will not support any differentiation on account of religion, community or language. 

8. I will continuously build the capacities in teaching so that I can impart quality education to my students.

 9. I will celebrate the success of my students, with great élan. 

10. I realize by being a teacher, I am making an important contribution to all the national development initiatives. 

11. I will constantly Endeavour to fill my mind, with great thoughts and spread the nobility in thinking and action. 

My best wishes to all of you for success in your mission of developing enlightened citizens for the nation. May God Bless you. 

Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, www.abdulkalam.com