The Gujarat Government has planned to celebrate the week beginning from Monday as a ‘Knowledge Week’ in order to promote educational activities in the State and focus on four major aspects — awareness of education, quality of education, system of education, and spreading of education.
The week beginning from September 1, 2014 will be celebrated as ‘Gyan Saptah’ and would commemorate with the birth anniversary of Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (September 5) — which is being celebrated as Teachers’ Day.
“I believe that growth of education can be achieved by the ‘Knowledge Quadrangle’ — awareness of education, quality of education, system of education and spreading education,” said Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel.
“The disappointing reality is today we see education only as a tool to earn livelihood and not as a means of shaping lives. Because of this, education of girl child is not seen as a priority in our society,” she said, adding that such beliefs need to be uprooted. People choose Oxford, Harvard or MIT to pursue quality higher education, said the Chief Minister, but “we need to remember that India was the Knowledge Hub of ancient times”.
“World’s foremost university Takshashila took shape on our land. World-renowned university Nalanda found its genesis in India. Gujarat’s Vallabhi Vidhyapith too, was known for imparting education of international standards,” she said, adding that she would like the dream of ‘knowledge tomorrow’ to become a reality in future.
“It is important that the seeds of education shall be uniformly sown across all sections of the society. In our society, we come across families that indulge into female foeticides and also see families that encourage young daughters to study abroad even by making sacrifices. In a society of such social, economic and cultural diversities, the most difficult task is to make education reach to every citizen,” she opined.
Remembering the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s initiative when he was Gujarat Chief Minister, she said that since 2001 the visionary efforts of Narendrabhai through initiatives like ‘Kanya Kelavani’, ‘Shala Praveshotsav’ and ‘Gunotsav’ Gujarat has taken a stride in spreading education.