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New Delhi, India (AHN) – India celebrated National Education Day Thursday with a range of events organized throughout the length and breadth of the country. The main function was organized in New Delhi with the vice president of India, Mohammed Hamid Ansari, the chief guest for the occasion.

The event, held at the Vigyan Bhawan, a premier government convention center, was organized by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, which celebrates Nov. 11 every year as National Education Day to commemorate the birth anniversary of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, the first education minister of an independent India.

After inaugurating the function with lighting of the traditional lamp, Ansari called the attention of the concerned ministry as well as the government of India to the tenets of the education system as visualized by the founding fathers of the Indian democracy, including Maulana Azad.

Referring to Azad as an exceptional academician, a dedicated freedom-fighter and a remarkable visionary, Ansari recalled Azad’s views on the significance of education in independent India. Quoting Maulana, he said, “The democracy cannot function while its citizens remained illiterate.”

Ansari asked the government to focus on the issues pointed out in the Mid-Term Appraisal of the 11th Five-Year Plan of the country. He highlighted issues such as teacher absenteeism, teacher-student ratio, and the need to address equity concerns for the disadvantaged and vulnerable social groups.

At the same time, the vice president applauded the HRD ministry’s efforts to ensure “universalization of education” through the Right To Education Act, passed in 2009.

Kapil Sibal, minister for human resource development, stressed that a “paradigm shift” was required in the way children are taught in the schools. He said, “Education should be child-centric, instead of being exam-centric as it seeks to mushroom each child’s genius.”

Among others present were Davidson Hepburn, president of the General Conference of UNESCO; David Willets, United Kingdom’s minister of state for universities and science; Dr. D. Purandeswari, minister of state for human resource development and Vibha Puri Das, secretary of higher education.

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