Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged teachers to stay vigilant against student drug addiction and help children tackle excessive screen time through sports, physical play, and creative activities.Interacting with the national award-winning teachers on Friday, the eve of Teachers' Day, Modi asked the teachers to preserve childhood and nurture children's natural curiosity.
He said teachers should share creative approaches to make classroom learning more engaging.
The prime minister emphasised that teachers need to look beyond the academic performance of children and be attentive to their behaviour and everyday lives.
He said teachers have an increasingly important role to play in the lives of children now that there are fewer joint family set-ups.
On drugs, Modi said that in some big cities and universities, it is difficult to identify if anyone gets affected by the problem, as no one knows who gives whom what.
He said that in some big cities and universities, it is difficult to tell if anyone is being affected by the problem, as no one knows who gives whom what.
"In these circumstances, teachers should take the initiative for awareness and also observe minutely if any change (in behaviour) is witnessed in any child," he said.
A video of the interaction at the prime minister's Lok Kalyan Marg residence was released on Saturday.
The prime minister said the teachers should enter the lives of the students, going beyond books and syllabuses.
"You should not allow the childhood of a student to die. The biggest contribution can be given by the teachers by keeping childhood alive in students' lives," he said.
Modi also talked about how teachers can keep the students away from long hours of screen time and encourage them towards outdoor sports activities.
The prime minister said children have the same basic nature and curiosity, and if teachers nurture and channelise this curiosity, they can make a significant contribution to their development.
He said screen time has become a major concern among students, as he urged the teachers to speak to parents about how much time their children spend on screens and whether they continue using mobile phones late at night.
Screen time can be cut naturally by developing an interest in sports, physical games and creative activities, he said.
Referring to the National Education Policy, Modi stressed the importance of taking children outside the classroom and connecting them with real-world skills and forms of work.
The prime minister praised a teacher who spoke about making women in her vicinity aware of breast cancer, and said a breast cancer awareness campaign was launched by him in Varanasi, his Lok Sabha constituency.
"I am happy to share with you that more and more women are coming forward for screening (for breast cancer), even setting a Guinness World Record for it," he said.
This year, 82 teachers and educators have been selected for the National Teachers Awards from three departments. These include 48 teachers from the Department of School Education and Literacy, 21 teachers/faculty members from higher educational institutions and polytechnics, and 13 skill trainers from the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. (Agencies)