Moral values must be integral to education: Minister Lokesh
Kakinada, Sept 20 (TNT): Andhra Pradesh Education and IT Minister Nara Lokesh on Sunday called for integrating moral values into the education system to restore the country’s past glory and enhance its global recognition.
Addressing the `Bharatiyam’ patriotic programme organised by spiritual preacher and government adviser Chaganti Koteswara Rao at the Akundi Lakshmi Memorial Gosala premises at Thimmapuram on the outskirts of Kakinada, Lokesh said education should be kept away from politics and focus on building a value-based society.
He said around 1.10 lakh students had shifted from private schools to government schools, while admissions to government junior colleges had increased by 10,000, attributing the progress to the cooperation of students, parents and teachers.
For the first time, photographs and names of students securing top ranks in government schools were being published in newspapers and telecast on television channels, he said.
“If moral values are added to this progress, the AP model of school education can emerge as the number one in the country,” Lokesh said.
He said India’s strength lay in its value-based society, family system and unity in diversity, adding that Sanatana Dharma and humanism were integral to the country’s heritage.
Recalling the contributions of ancient Indian scholars, Lokesh cited Charaka in medicine, Chanakya in politics, Aryabhata in mathematics, Patanjali in yoga and Dhanvantari in Ayurveda.
The Minister said he had taken up the Education portfolio as a challenge and introduced several reforms over the past two years with the objective of restoring the glory of government schools.
As children’s minds were sensitive, he said he had ensured that political colours were not associated with school uniforms, bags, belts or shoes. “Nowhere are the photographs of the Chief Minister or mine printed on them,” he said.
Lokesh said the visions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Viksit Bharat’ and Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s ‘Swarnandhra’ could be realised only through the younger generation. He urged students to develop the same love for the nation as they have for their parents.
He appreciated Chaganti Koteswara Rao for organising the patriotic programme and said his name was well known among Telugu families in both Telugu-speaking states.
Earlier, Chaganti Koteswara Rao received Lokesh at the venue amid Vedic chants by priests.
During a subsequent satsang, he blessed the Minister and presented him books titled `Devuni Swaram’, authored by the 68th head of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham, Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi Mahaswami.
The programme began with Pushpanjali accompanied by 108 mantras, followed by the singing of Vande Mataram and Harathi to a portrait of Bharat Mata.
Rajya Sabha member Sana Sathish, MLC Karri Padmasri and MLAs Vanamadi Kondababu and Nimmakayala Chinarajappa were among those present.
TNT TMR
