Expressing his concern over the declining values in society, Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday appealed to people to elect and support public representatives with 4 Cs— character, capacity, conduct (good) and calibre.
He also stressed the need for people’s representatives to possess discipline and commitment to people’s welfare.
The Vice-President added he wished to see India as a strong and powerful nation, ‘where there is no hunger, no illiteracy and no discrimination’.
Naidu was participating in the diamond jubilee celebrations of Sri Patibandla Seetharamaiah High School, Guntur.
Addressing the students, teachers and parents, the Vice-President stressed the importance of holistic education. Equal attention must be paid to physical fitness and activities like gardening, Naidu said.
He reiterated the need to accord priority to imparting education in the mother tongue.
It is important to be proficient in one’s mother tongue, while learning other languages, the Vice-President said.
Naidu called for imparting value-based education to children, with emphasis on Indian culture and heritage. He stressed that ‘education is meant for empowerment, enlightenment and employment not for mere acquisition of degrees and certificates’.
Deploring the commercialisation of education, he said that education and medicine were treated as missions in the olden days. Education must produce socially conscious and responsible citizens who will strive selflessly for the larger good of the society and the country, the Vice-President said.