Poetry reading should be compulsory part of curriculum: Naidu

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday urged schools to make poetry a compulsory part of the curriculum, saying it can be a powerful tool for social transformation.

Emphasising that peace is a pre-requisite for progress, the vice president said that poetry can be a powerful medium to secure peace, happiness, brotherhood and harmony.

"I urge schools to make poetry reading and appreciation a compulsory part of the curriculum.

"I also ask universities to encourage literature, arts and humanities education. We need poets and writers and artists and singers as much as we need doctors, engineers and scientists," Naidu said while addressing the valedictory programme of the 39th World Congress of Poets here.

He said, poetry should promote peace, motivate people to cultivate universal brotherhood, social harmony and tolerance.

"Poetry can serve as a powerful catalyst that could hasten the process of social transformation," said Naidu.

Stressing that it is crucial to promote arts and culture to build an enlightened and healthy society, the vice president said, arts nurture creativity in society.

Without a creative voice, society will become stagnant, he said.

Naidu said that poets can be influencers and opinion makers as they have the potential to shape thoughts, feelings and attitudes.

"I am confident that they will use this tremendous power at their disposal, to build a better world," he said.

Describing poetry as one of the finest expressions of human emotions, Naidu said, "It conveys deep insights, a wide range of emotions and elevates the human experience to the highest levels of consciousness. It has a great impact on the inner chemistry of human emotions, on how we perceive, how we respond and how we behave."
Mentioning that poets have the unique potential to shape thoughts, feelings and attitudes, Naidu said, "promotion of literature is also an impactful method to preserve and promote languages, a cause that is very close to my heart."