Teaching should be most sought-after profession

New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said he envisions a society where teaching is the most sought-after profession.

Kejriwal was speaking at the State Teachers' Awards at the Thyagaraj Stadium. Organised on the occasion of Teachers' Day to celebrate the contribution of Delhi's teachers and principals, the event also saw a performance from Bollywood singer Javed Ali.

Kejriwal said, "Every child of Delhi is like my own son. No child is any less important for me than my own son. It is my duty to provide for all of Delhi's people because I consider them as a part of my family." Reminiscing about his time as a student, the chief minister said one teacher had decided the course of his life.

"I had just cleared class 10 in 1983. I had a Biology teacher, Chopra ma'am who had told me that no matter what I did, I must do it the best," he recalled. He told the audience that he wanted to be a doctor, but his teacher advised him to take up engineering. "I used to be her favourite student because I was a topper. The AIIMS only had 35 seats and IIT had 1,500 seats," he said.

"The only reason I chose to appear for the IIT entrance and not the AIIMS entrance was that the odds seemed better, and as per Chopra ma'am I couldn't settle for a second-best medical college. It is incredible just how much influence a school teacher has on a child's life," Kejriwal said. "In 1985, I joined the IIT and in 2015, the people of Delhi gave us the responsibility of the city. I decided that I will work towards just one goal -- if any child in Delhi wants to go to the IIT, lack of resources should never come in his/her way of seizing that opportunity," the chief minister said. Speaking about the role of teachers in society, he said, "Till 1830, before the introduction of the British education system, teaching was the most sought-after profession in India." The Delhi government plans to revive that to ensure that the cream of the society is brought into the teaching profession, thereby benefitting the future generations, he said. "In just four years, with solid support from teachers and principals, we have reached a point where government schools are just as good as if not better than private schools," the Aam Aadmi Party supremo added.