Society

Addressing his favourite audience, President A P J Abdul Kalam on Thursday gave children his mantra for success - curiosity, thinking, knowledge, hard work and perseverance.

The President, addressing a gathering of school students at the First Child Education Summit on Children’s Day, touched a range of subjects from science, freedom movement, education to networking of rivers in the country.

“There are three components in life to come up - curiosity, thinking and knowledge, sweat and perseverance....Many children ask me how in this complex world I reached the Rashtrapati Bhavan,” he said.

Sharing his philosophy about hard work and thinking, he said, “Hard work has not killed anyone, less work may have … Thinking is progress. Non-thinking is destruction”.

Describing the human mind as a “unique gift,” he said the present education system brings workload but it could not prevent the students from dreaming.

Advocating that the education system should bring out creativity, Kalam said any syllabus or curriculum, which did not do so, should be changed.

The President recalled that during his recent visit to the northeast, a girl in the flood-prone Brahmaputra valley asked him, while he was talking of a developed India, why flood waters could not be diverted to Rajasthan or Tamil Nadu.

“It was a very significant question. In fact, networking of rivers is the only answer to these problems,” he said.

Kalam said since he assumed office in July last, he met around one lakh school students during his tours across the country and wherever he went, children - rich or poor - had the same dream. “They all want to live in an India which is peaceful, prosperous and secure. How do you achieve this?”

Kalam said when a high-school student asked him how he felt on entering the 72nd year of his life, he replied that he had gone around 71 times and entered the 72nd orbit. “You must see the marvels of the universe. Look at the sky and stars.”

He asked the students to question everything as science evolved out of questions. He recounted to them days of making of missiles in the country when some critics said it would not be possible, “but we did it. It was a result of perseverance”.

Amidst the applause as he ended his address, the President said his speech was available on the Internet.

Kalam, who was touched by the speeches made by two students earlier, recited his ‘Song of Youth’ and asked the audience to repeat after him.

(Agencies)