Himachal Pradesh Governor Acharya Devvrat conferred State Awards upon 16 teachers and also honoured four national award-winning teachers for the year 2017 in the presence of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh during the State-level Teacher’s Day function held at Raj Bhawan on Tuesday.
“Teaching is a noble profession and carries a huge responsibility because the conduct, character and thoughts of teachers influence the students and therefore, they should perform their duties honestly and sincerely”, said the Governor.
He expressed happiness that Himachal Pradesh had emerged as the most advanced and prosperous State in the field of education, for which the credit goes to the teaching community.
In his address, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh said his Government had given top priority to education sector in the State and it had taken a lead in imparting quality education to children and in a survey, it was adjudged the Best Big State in imparting higher education to youth in the country.
He recalled that in earlier days, children had to traverse long distances to reach school for education. Today, there were more than 15,636 schools and 129 colleges catering to the basic and higher educational needs of the students at their very door-steps, stated the Chief Minster.
The CM said during present tenure of the Government, 50 new colleges had been opened in far-flung and rural areas that witnessed girl students outnumbering boys in all institutions of higher learning. Singh said the Government had also pursued vocational education in 967 schools of the State with a motive to impart life skills in them necessary for securing employment.
He congratulated the awarded teacher and said that it was great honour in one’s lifetime to get awards in the profession. He said teachers were the backbone of the civilized society and they should work with dedication.