New Delhi: Responding to a teacher's question during the sixth 'Pariksha pe Charcha' program on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the children need to be given the liberty and platform to expand their horizons.
"After their 10th and 12th examinations, the students should be given some money to travel to a few places. They can write about those places, and the experiences they have there," the Prime Minister said as he addressed lakhs of students, teachers, and parents across the nation virtually from New Delhi.
"Students should be encouraged to go and meet people from different strata of society. They should not be bound by restrictions," the Prime Minister said while responding to a question posed by a teacher named Suman Mishra from the audience. Mishra had asked about the ideal behaviour that students should embody as members of society and the ways in which they can do it.
The Prime Minister addressed a number of other issues during the program and responded to questions from the audience. When students Dipesh Ahirwar, Aditabh, Kamakshi, and Manan Mittal asked questions about addiction to online games and social media, the Prime Minister, quoting a study, said the average screen time for an Indian is up to six hours.
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"In such a situation gadget enslaves us. God has given us free will and an independent personality and we should always be conscious about becoming slaves to our gadgets," he said. "I am rarely seen with a mobile phone despite being very active. I keep a definite time for such activities. One should not avoid technology but it should be restricted only to our needs. We should not become slave to technology," he added.
A record 38 lakh students registered this year for participation in 'Pariksha Pe Charcha'. The number of registrations is at least 15 lakh more than last year, according to Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. The first edition of the PM's interactive program with school and college students was held on February 16, 2018.
The prime minister also gave the example of the loss of capability for table recital among students. "We need to improve our capabilities without losing our basic gifts. One should keep testing and learning in this era of artificial intelligence in order to preserve one's creativity," he said.
