PM interacts with national award-winning teachers

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday interacted with the recipients of National Teachers' Awards here and exhorted them to work towards bringing out the inherent strength of students.

On the eve of Teachers' Day, the prime minister congratulated the awardees for their efforts towards improving the quality of education in the country, an official statement said.

He commended their dedication towards education and for making it their "life mantra". He said that a teacher remains a teacher throughout his or her life.

During the interaction, Modi urged the awardees to mobilise the community and to make them an integral part of school development. He also exhorted the teachers to work towards bringing out the inherent strength of students, especially those from poor and rural background.

The prime minister said that the educators should work towards removing the disconnect between the teachers and the students, so that teachers are remembered by the students throughout their lives. He also encouraged the teachers to digitally transform their schools and its neighbourhood.

During the interaction with the prime minister, the awardees narrated their stories in transforming their schools into centres of learning and excellence.

They also thanked the prime minister for the new online nomination process and for schemes such as Digital India, which is bringing a big qualitative change in school education throughout the country, the statement said.

This year, the Ministry of Human Resource Development has revised the guidelines for the selection of teachers for National Awards.

The new scheme envisages self-nomination and was inspired by recent innovations in major national awards. The scheme is transparent, fair, and rewards demonstrated excellence and performance, the statement pointed out.

The teachers will be conferred the award for 2017 on Wednesday.