Teachers and not the police can stop Nirbhaya-like incidents in the country, Union Minister Ram Shankar Katheria said today.
"There was a Nirbahaya incident. Only teachers can stop such incidents. No police force can stop such incidents. Only country's teachers have that power," Katheria said addressing a function where national awards were given away to teachers for distinguished service for 2014.
'Nirbhaya' is the fictional name given to a 23-year-old paramedical student, who was brutally gang-raped and mercilessly assaulted in a moving bus in the national capital in December 2012. She died while battling for life during treatment in a Singapore hospital.
"I come from Agra. I see big buildings in Noida while coming from there. 20 or 30-storeyed buildings. They are not the parameter of development. But the students, as some learned persons have said, are the real capital of the nation and and teachers need to utilise this capital to make our country more powerful and developed," Katheria, Minister of State for Human Resources Development, said.
He said there is a need to improve elementary education in the country.
A total of 338 teachers from across the country received the award, which carries a silver medal, certificate and cash reward of Rs 50,000 from President Pranab Mukherjee at a function held at Vigyan Bhawan here.
HRD Minister Smriti Irani and Minister of State Upendra Kushwaha were among those present.
