apj-abdulkalamNEW DELHI - Primary school teachers in India should be selected the way civil service officers are to ensure that they are qualified and equipped to groom youngsters, former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam said Tuesday.

Kalam was speaking on Capacity Building in Young Minds for the Central Institute for Educational Technology (CIET) lecture series at the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi.

“Like an (Indian Administrative Service) IAS fellow has to go through a preliminary exam, then a main exam and then an interview. Of 400,000-500,000 people, just 1,000 are selected… Like that a primary school teacher will have to go through such a process,” Kalam said.

In his jovial style, the former president also emphasized the need for a better system of evaluation for students.

“Schools are evaluated according to the performance of students but a paradigm shift is required where the way students are groomed is important,” he said.

Asked if the class 10 board examination, which the HRD ministry has proposed to make optional, put undue pressure on students, he told IANS: “I believe teachers can play very important role in this and also the curriculum (matters). For example, I am concerned with primary education nobody has to take students to the schools, they rush to the schools.”

This, he explained, was because of a more relaxed environment, where students were allowed to be creative, take part in art, painting and not feel pressured by teachers.

National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT) director Krishna Kumar endorsed Kalam’s views.

He said: “Unless teachers take initiative and don’t inculcate the natural endowment of children to be bold and different from one another - something will continue to lack in our system.”

“Via the national curriculum 2005, we have tried to cease the current Darwanian system. Teachers and education department officials should commit to the child rather than the system,” he said.