Always eager to don the mantle of a teacher, President APJ Abdul Kalam on Thursday had words of wisdom for students in Myanmar asking them not to get disheartened by failures.
"Have a vision in life, there is sometimes success, sometimes failure. Do not get disheartened," he told boys and girls of Yangon Basic Education High School here on the second day of his three-day visit to the country, the first ever by an Indian President.
Taking students down the memory lane, Kalam recalled his days as a teacher and stopped a tutor from prompting his pupil when he asked a question about the solar system.
"Teacher, keep quiet you don't worry, I'll handle," he told the tutor who sought to help the student answer the question.
Describing science both as good and bad, he said nuclear science can be used to treat cancer also for making a bomb. "Chemicals too had their good and bad qualities," he said.
During the lively interactive session, the President won the hearts of the students by asking them to send e-mails to him, ask questions had share their thoughts with him. Kalam invited an enthusiastic student to visit India to study and promised to facilitate his visit.
{{/usCountry}}During the lively interactive session, the President won the hearts of the students by asking them to send e-mails to him, ask questions had share their thoughts with him. Kalam invited an enthusiastic student to visit India to study and promised to facilitate his visit.
{{/usCountry}}To a question as to which life he liked more-that of a scientist or of a President, he said through science he desired to transform India into a developed nation by 2020.
When an inquisitive girl asked him whether boys had more IQ than girls, the President said he had recently distributed awards at an educational institution in Himachal Pradesh and a majority of the recipients were girls.
"Are you happy now?", he said to the delight of the youngster.