Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged teachers to make students aware of the dangers of drugs and help them reduce their screen time.
Interacting with national award-winning teachers on Friday, on the eve of Teachers’ Day, Modi said everyone in society should encourage students to take part in creative pursuits.
He stressed that teachers should look beyond academic performance and pay attention to students’ behaviour and everyday lives.
Modi said teachers have an increasingly important role in children’s lives as joint family structures become less common.
Speaking about drug abuse, he said it can be difficult to identify those affected by the problem in some large cities and universities, as people may not know who is supplying drugs to whom.
“In these circumstances, teachers should take the initiative for awareness and also observe minutely if any change is witnessed in any child,” he said.
Modi urged teachers to protect children’s sense of childhood and encourage them to remain engaged in positive and creative activities.
“You should not allow the childhood of a student to die,” he said, adding that teachers can make the biggest contribution to keeping childhood alive in students’ lives.
A video of the interaction was released on Saturday.
(With inputs from PTI)
