On Teacher’s day, Biplab Deb’s question to students centres on PM’s Russia visit

Tripura chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb’s question to students in an Agartala school was about Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he became a teacher for a day on Thursday to mark Teacher’s Day, the birth anniversary of Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan.

Deb asked students at Shishu Bihar Higher Secondary School in Agartala about the country Prime Minister Modi is currently visiting. PM Modi is on a two-day visit to Russia from Thursday and participated as the chief guest in the Eastern Economic Forum and held an annual summit with President Vladimir Putin.

He also told them about the NaMo app, the official mobile application of the PM, and said they could download it to get the latest updates about Modi.

The chief minister also asked the Class 11 students about changes in the education system after his government came to power in the state during the interaction.

“We need to focus on quality education. Since 1947, Tripura has produced only two IAS officers. In order to change that, we have introduced a scheme to support the civil service aspirants to take coaching for UPSC examinations outside the state. Now, path is open for you to appear for UPSC,” he said.

Deb asked them about the date parent-teachers meeting was held throughout the state in government schools for the first time and talked about the increase in the pass percentage among students of Class 10 this year.

“This was my first experience as a teacher in a school. The introduction of NCERT syllabus, organising a parent-teacher meeting in government schools in one day across the state and hike in pass percentage in board exams are some achievements of our government,” he told the reporters after his class.

“Tripura is lagging behind in quality education and we are focusing to change it,” he said.

Binita Pal, a Class 11 student of science, said it was a nice experience with CM in the class. “Usually we get to know about government initiatives through media, but all these are refreshed today in the class. The class was really informative,” Pal said.

Governor Ramesh Bais, state education minister Ratan Lal Nath and MP Pratima Bhowmik also taught a class in government schools.

Teachers’ Day is observed in India every year in the memory of former president Dr S Radhakrishna, a philosopher-author and the country’s second president who was born on September 5, 1888.