HYDERABAD: I am born with potential, goodness with trust, ideas and dreams, greatness, confidence and with wings. I am not meant for crawling. I am born with wings. I am born to fly!” recited 50,000 young voices along with APJ Abdul Kalam, which echoed the walls of Hyderabad Public School, Begumpet campus on Wednesday.
He interacted with the students and gave them tips for success. In his speech titled “I am born with wings” Kalam said, “If you want to know what type of life is in store for you? Dream for an India which is free of disparity, with adequate proper healthcare and drinking water facilities, with talent flooding the country’s institutes, with a transparent government and lovable leaders.” Confessing that one thing he regretted not doing during his presidential tenure, he said, “I wanted to bring in solar power for energy consumption at Rashtrapati Bhawan during my time.
But I have proposed the plan and I hope they will implement it.” Kalam shared his childhood memories and drew contrast to his school days and expressed how times have changed now. “I studied in a primary school during British India. We were a strength of about 400 boys and girls. There were hardly any dropouts during my time and our teachers would be the first ones, to come home and announce our results to us.
I believe that for providing education, one does not need great buildings or infrastructure, but an enjoyable system of education and great teachers. It can only be developed by an integrated coordination between teachers and students,” he said. Sharing many anecdotes from his interaction with kids all over the country, Kalam stressed on parent’s role in supporting children to chose subjects of their interest.
He said that students should believe in their choice and convince their parents, as to what they want to pursue. He also asked students to overcome fear and encouraged them to question. He also emphasised the need of teachers to fill in the gap between them and students and help them in overcoming their fears and also stress-management.
Addressing the students, he spoke about how essential it is for children to dream. “It is a crime not to aim big. I wanted to be a scientist when I was 10 years. My science teacher Siva Subramania Iyer once took me to a sea and explained the flight of seagulls and that’s it, I knew I what I wanted to be.” He then went on, “Hard work, great teachers and great books, will always take you to your path.” When asked by an HPS student, which one of his three roles he loved playing, i.e. president, teacher and scientist, he said, “I always loved being a teacher, because I meet young people everyday and I love interacting with them.” Commenting on energy crisis in India, he said, “We now generate about 130,000 mega watts of energy and by 2020, we need 300,000 mega watts.
We have to become energy independent by implementing renewable sources of energy like solar, wind, nuclear and bio energy.”