For Teachers' Day, PM is 'Modi Sir' for Students Across India

New Delhi:  “Mother gives birth, the guru gives life,” said Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a speech full of tributes to teachers at Delhi’s Manekshaw Auditorium this morning. His interaction with students was relaxed and filled with quips.

Here are the 10 latest developments:

1. “We all know the games politicians play,” the PM said when a student from Goa asked him what his favourite sport is. He asked the winner of a TV cookery show whether he cooks for his friends in hostel at school.


2. 800 students and 60 teachers from schools in Delhi are participating in the event at the auditorium. Students from nine other states have joined the programme through video conference.


3. The achievements of students from across the country are being highlighted through short films after which they are asking the Prime Minister questions.


4. Among the students who interacted with PM Modi is K Visalini, 15, a student from Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu who has the  highest IQ in the world.


5. This is the second year that the PM is interacting with students on the occasion of Teachers Day, which celebrates the birthday on September 5 of India’s second President and scholar Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan.


6. “I always learn from everything. I was always very inquisitive, even as a child. That helped,” the PM said to a student who asked what inspired him.


7. Union education minister Smriti Irani welcomed the PM Modi and teachers and students gathered. “Dream, take a vow and make a beginning,” she said in a short speech.


8. Shortly after the PM’s interaction, President Pranab Mukherjee will interact with teachers and students at the Sarvodaya Vidyalaya inside the President’ Estate in Delhi.


9. President Mukherjee, who was a college teacher and a journalist before he joined politics in 1969, will also give lessons in political history to students of class 11 and 12 at the school.


10. Nine crore students had participated in the PM’s interaction last year and the attempt is to scale up the numbers significantly this year, officials said.

Story First Published: September 04, 2015 09:35 IST