The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, has said that though schools exist nearly everywhere, the country is far from the goal of universalising access to even elementary education. Even though the enrolment figures look really impressive, the dropout rate is horrendous. He said that the community, the parents and teachers have an obligation to ensure that not only all children, particularly the girl child, should be in school, but also to create an atmosphere so that none of them drops out.

The Prime Minister was addressing the National Award winning Teachers, who called on him at his residence today. The Minister of Human Resource Development, Shri Arjun Singh; the Secretaries in the Ministry, Shri B.S. Baswan and Smt. Kumud Bansal, were also present on the occasion.

The Prime Minister said that he regarded teaching as the noblest profession. "Our teachers are truly the builders of the nation. What India is going to be, will very much depend on what you teach our children in the very formative stages of their careers", he said. The Prime Minister described Dr. Radhakrishnan as a scholar-statesman, a great thinker and also a great 'karmayogi'. His life and works would continue to inspire generations of Indians. Dr. Singh said that he was basically a teacher and teaching has remained his first love.

The Prime Minister said that the teachers have a very important role to play in nation building. "What our children learn in school will be an influence, which will shape their future career and what they will learn will very much depend upon the quality of teachers that they get. And it is in this sense, that on a day like Dr. Radhakrishnan's birthday, we salute our teachers, because by saluting them, we salute those values which are fundamental for the development of their personality", he added.

The Prime Minister said that India was a country of great diversities, a country where many religions, various philosophies and doctrines have flourished. India is a country, which valued this diversity. "Out of this diversity, we have been trying to work out formulas which would promote processes of nation building and take India on the road to progress - social and economic in the years to come. And therefore it is here also that the role of education is of crucial significance. The values that we teach our children, the commitment to excellence, the commitment to social equity and fairness in dealings with others and tolerance of others' point of view are very important characteristics if we have to emerge as a cohesive nation with all the diversity built into our society", he said.

The Prime Minister recalled Dr. Radhakrishnan's address at the convocation, when Dr. Singh received his university degree, where Dr. Radhakrishnan emphasised the values of tolerance. Dr. Radhakrishnan had then said, "there is so much of good in the worst of us, and so much of bad in the best of us, that it ill-behoves any of us to find fault with the rest of us."

Greeting the teachers, Dr. Manmohan Singh their dedication and commitment would shape the future of the country. "We are a country of over a billion people and I have every reason to believe that we are destined to play a very major role in shaping the course of events not only in Asia, but also in the world as a whole, in the years to come. And for that to happen you have a crucial role to play", he added.