5G will help take education system to next level, says PM Modi at Gujarat event

AHMEDABAD: The 5G telecom service launched this month will take the education system in the country to the next level, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday at the launch of the Gujarat government’s ‘Mission Schools of Excellence’ project in Gandhinagar district.

PM Modi, who started his two-day visit to poll-bound Gujarat on Wednesday, said the project will upgrade school infrastructure in the state with 50,000 new classrooms and more than one lakh classrooms in 20,000 government schools, and make a huge difference to the lives of children and their education.

“This occasion is going to serve as a milestone for a developed India, and for a developed Gujarat’’, PM Modi told the gathering at Gandhinagar’s Adalaj town.

This initiative, PM Modi underlined, was made possible by the recently-launched 5G service that will go beyond smart facilities, smart classrooms, and smart teachings. “It will take our education system to the next level,” the prime minister said.

“Some people say we have seen 2G, 3G, 4G and now 5G, and so what’s the big difference? If I were to explain from a layman’s point of view the benefits of 5G technology, I will say if 4G is a bicycle, then 5G is an airplane,” PM Modi said, adding that young students can now experience the power of virtual reality and the Internet of Things at school.

“Using this technology, a teacher can impart real-time education to several schools in villages through online mode. Now, the best education and content will reach everyone. Students of villages will be benefited the most because of this initiative.” he said.

PM Modi also advocated the use of local languages to make sure that those uncomfortable with English are not left behind, saying the language was earlier a criterion for being considered an intellectual.

“We aim to ensure that children of poor parents become doctors and engineers even if they are not educated in English (medium). We want to ensure that no one is left behind due to the lack of knowledge of the English language,” PM Modi said, adding the “New Education Policy of the Centre will pull the country out from this slave mentality surrounding the English language”.

PM Modi also traced the improvement in Gujarat’s education sector over the past two decades, saying 20 out of 100 students did not attend schools 20 years ago. “Or we can say that about one-fifth of our boys and girls were not part of our education system. Many of them who attended school dropped out before Class 8. The situation was worse for girls who were stopped from going to school...In these two decades, the people of Gujarat have seen the transformation of the education system in their state. More than 1.25 lakh new classrooms have been built in the state and over 2 lakh teachers have been recruited,” PM Modi said, recalling some of the initiatives taken in the state when he was chief minister between 2001 and 2014 when he became prime minister.

PM Modi said when he was chief minister, he travelled from one village to another and requested people to send their daughters to school. “The result has been that today almost every son and daughter in Gujarat has started reaching school, and going to college after school.”

According to the Gujarat government, the ₹10,000 crore project launched by PM Modi has received funding approvals to the tune of $ 1 billion - $750 million from World Bank and $250 million from Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). The state government will spend the remaining ₹2,500 crore over the next five years

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