President Pranab Mukherjee on Friday turned into a teacher of Political History to senior secondary students of a government school in the President’s Estate. He insisted that the students refer to him as ‘Mukherjee sir’, and shared personal anecdotes with the students as well. Not like your regular Political Science teacher, he told the students to be frank if they found the lecture boring. After sharing the stage with the Prime Minister’s in the morning, the President headed to Rajendra Prasad Sarvodaya Vidyalaya in the Rashtrapati Bhavan and taught 60 students of Class 11 and 12. The concept was the brainchild of AAP Chief Arvind Kejriwal and Deputy Chief Manish Sisodia, the President liked the idea, and consented to the same.
President Pranab Mukherjee teaching students Political History on the occasion of Teachers Day on Friday. (Source: PTI)
“I was a naughty child, my mother pushed me to work hard. I used to cause lot of trouble for my mother. I would get a good deal of thrashing from her. My mother, teachers are responsible for what I am today. My best teacher was my mother,” Mukherjee told the students. In terms of the lesson, he discussed the political history of our country and explained the rich and diverse political developments of India. He talked about the elections, the economy and how various factors and eminent people have contributed to the growth the nation since its birth. He also added that he isn’t accustomed to social media, and hence he doesn’t use it often. He said he isn’t a great scholar, and neither was a very bright student, and turned out to be an average leader. He also mentioned that he still wants to teach students, in whatever capacity he can.
The day was marked in bold in history because this is the first time that an Indian President has interacted with students to mark the Teacher’s Day celebrations, which is celebrated, every year on September 5 in memory of the birth anniversary of former president Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan.