"Teaching a divine responsibility to guide and enlighten": PM Modi on Teacher's Day

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has greeted India's teachers on the occasion of Teacher's Day, via an email message, calling teaching a divine responsibility to guide and enlighten.

The Prime Minister said, "Teaching is not just another profession. It is a divine responsibility to guide and enlighten."

Urging the nation to accord a high status to the teaching community for the nation to achieve the status of 'Vishwaguru', Prime Minister Modi said, "We must once again accord such respect to the teachers and thereby regain that status where India becomes the beacon of knowledge for the entire world."

Addressing teachers, Prime Minister Modi further said, "Your determination and sincerity will shape the destiny of the nation! I want to see the day when every student is proud of his or her teachers and every teacher is proud of his or her students."

"The influences and experiences you share with your students will remain with them for a lifetime. You are also laying the foundation and the building blocks of the society. This is a responsibility of great significance because on this depends how our present and future generations will thrive," Prime Minister Modi added.

The Prime Minister also encouraged education over simply learning skills or information, saying, "I call upon you to widen the horizon of thinking of your students. Encourage them to think critically about broader issues concerning our nation, society and the environment. Our goal must be to create good citizens who are capable of preserving the past and creating the future."

"Lessons in good citizenship inculcated at a young age will go a long way in creating a better society. This could be as simple as traffic rules, cleanliness, gender sensitization, concern for the weak and reverence for the elders. I hope I can count on your support to make a beginning this Teachers' Day. Let us re-dedicate ourselves to this task; this duty," Prime Minister Modi added.

Teacher's Day is celebrated every year on September 5, the birth anniversary of S Radhakrishnan, India's second President.