SHIMLA-05 September, 2024 -Governor Shiv Pratap Shukla conferred State Awards upon 27 teachers and honoured one other with National Award for the year 2023 in a State-level function held at Raj Bhavan Shimla today on the occasion of the Teachers' Day. On the occasion, Lady Governor Janaki Shukla also presented saplings to all the award winners.

The Governor paid rich tributes to Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, former President of India, whose birth anniversary is celebrated as Teachers' Day throughout the country. He termed Dr. Radhakrishnan as a veracious personality, nobel laureate, academician and an able administrator.

While congratulating the award-winning teachers, the Governor said that the role of teachers, parents and students was important in the field of education. "Teachers should be sensitive towards their role of imparting education and values as only then, the process of teaching and learning could be effective," he said.

The Governor said that the importance of teachers as nation-builders has also been clearly expressed in the National Education Policy 2020. Many provisions have been made in this policy about the students and teachers relationship and the role of teachers in shaping the future of the youth, he said and added that Himachal has always performed excellently in the field of education and can perform much better by implementing the National Education Policy in letter and spirit.

Shri Shukla said that the Government of India has also approved a new centrally sponsored scheme Prime Minister's Schools for Rising India (PM SHRI). Under this scheme, provision has been made to strengthen the existing schools under NEP-2020 so as they emerge as exemplary institutions over the span of time and be a role model to be followed by other schools. It will nurture students in a way that they become engaged, productive, and contributing citizens for building an equitable, inclusive, and plural society as envisaged by the National Education Policy 2020. He said that 180 schools of Himachal would be developed under this scheme. The Government of India has selected Himachal amongst the six states under the Star Project in which Himachal has been selected as 'Light House' along with three states.

He expressed contentment that under 'Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat', students and teachers of the State were being taken on educational tours to different states and for the first time in the State, International tours have also been organised for building educational ability of teachers. He said that only teachers play a pivotal role to shape and enable the future generation to contribute towards nation building.

Expressing concern, he said that today many youth were in the clasp of drugs, which was a matter of concern for the future of the country. There was a need to start a strong campaign against drugs, he said, adding that students of schools, colleges and other educational institutions should be made aware about the ill-effects of drugs and the teachers could play an important role awaring the students about the ill-effects of drugs and make an important contribution to the entire society. He said that soon a strong anti-drug awareness campaign would be launched at the district level with the cooperation of the district administration along with the Panchayat representatives in which the Education department would also be associated.

The Governor also released a souvenir on the occasion.

Rohit Thakur, Education Minister welcomed the Governor and Lady Governor and said that the State Government was committed to the development of the education sector. He said that the life of Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan has been inspirational as he dedicated his life towards prioritising and strengthening the education sector.

He said that for the first time a transparent policy has been adopted for the Teacher's Award in which spot evaluations as well as interviews were done so that this award could be given to the deserving person. He also recalled the contribution of the first Chief Minister of the State, Dr. Yashwant Singh Parmar in strengthening the education sector. He also showed concern about the low enrolment of children in government schools.

Ashish Butail, Chief Parliamentary Secretary said the Chief Minister has taken several concrete steps to raise the standard of education in the state. Students were being taken on a country tour and teachers have been sent on a foreign tour for exposure visits, he added. Apart from this, English medium schools were being opened in every assembly constituency, he remarked.

Earlier, the Education Minister felicitated the Governor and the Chief Parliamentary Secretary felicitated the Lady Governor.

Rakesh Kanwar, Education Secretary welcomed the Governor and Ashish Kohli, Director, Elementary Education proposed vote of thanks.

A cultural programme was also performed by the students of GSSS Portmore and RKMV.

Surender Chauhan, Mayor, Municipal Corporation Shimla, Uma Kaushal, Deputy Mayor, C.P. Verma, Secretary to Governor, Amarjeet Sharma, Director, Higher Education, Rajesh Sharma, State Project Director, Samagr Shiksha Abhiyan and other prominent people were also present on the occasion.