MODI CONNECT

The PM’s interaction with students on Teachers Day underlines the premium he places on direct connect

It was clear in prime minister Narendra Modi’s address to students on Teachers Day, broadcast nationwide, that there are few in the Indian polity who have understood better the impact of forming a direct connect with the people. This was Modi’s first real public interaction after becoming PM and that he chose to have it with students indicates how much of his vision for nation-building is invested with the youth.

To form an easy connect with his young audience ,and perhaps also to explain what he termed “national character”, the prime minister recalled how a Japanese acquaintance told him that often, in Japan, students participate in the cleaning up of their schools, noting that this sharply contrasts the hue and cry that such a drive would elicit in India. There were elements in the address that become something of a leitmotif in Modi speeches—for one, his stress on better sanitation; separate toilets for girls at schools were seminal to strengthening the education sector, he noted. There was also the ‘technology as a key driver of progress’ element—Modi spoke of a Digital India, one where modern technology was within the reach of all, especially students. In this context, Modi said, teachers must facilitate technology uptake by students—if need be, teachers should undergo training themselves, “because depriving students of technology would be a social crime”. Making India a hub of manufacturing and services remains foremost on his mind—pointing out that it was perceived worldwide that there is a shortage of trained and efficient teachers, the PM said India should work at providing the world with such teachers.