Himachal Pradesh Governor Bandaru Dattatraya on Monday conferred state awards on 16 teachers and honoured one national award winning teacher at a World Teachers’ Day function here.

Dattatraya said that the Government of India has implemented a new National Education Policy in the country after 34 years.

“In the current perspective, this new national education policy, which provides affordable education, skill development education to all, has many features but its implementation is also challenging,” he said.

He said that it is necessary to understand and implement its broader aspect and this responsibility is more on teachers.

The Governor said that it is an important opportunity for Himachal Pradesh to take the lead in the field of education. Himachal has always excelled in the field of education and the state may work better in some educational reforms suggested in the National Education Policy, he added. He said that there is a need to identify areas in which the state could take an edge.

Dattatraya said that there are three major elements that contribute towards the progress of a nation and these were education, employment and empowerment. He said that India is a young nation and its 62.5 percent of the population is in the age group of 15-59 years, which would become 65 percent by the year 2036.

“It is the right time when a commitment is needed to build a strong nation with universal image. It is possible only when the active participation of youth is ensured,” he said.

“We can make full use of our demographic dividend in nation building only when India is able to develop skills in line with the needs of the world. And, the teacher can play an important role in this direction,” he added.

While congratulating the awardees, he appealed the teaching community to work with more commitment for the overall development of the future generation.

Education Minister Govind Singh Thakur said that the cooperation of teachers is expected in the implementation of National Education Policy effectively in the state. He said that the New Education Policy has been announced after much deliberation, which is teacher and student centric.

“By implementing New Education Policy, we would produce good citizens in the country,”he added.

He said that on 3 October, 2020 Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated the world’s largest and strongest Atal Tunnel Rohtang to the country. He said that this tunnel would definitely confer a new look to the economy of the state.

He said that keeping in view of COVID-19, it was initially decided to conduct the programme through virtual media but since this is an important day for teachers as they are honoured, the programme was held actually.

Earlier, Education Secretary Rajeev Sharma said the teachers have done an excellent job during the corona pandemic to run the education system smoothly, which was praiseworthy. He said that education has been made accessible to all children under the programme ‘Har Ghar Pathshala’ and with the active role of teachers, video lessons have been delivered to students through various media. About 7 lakh parents were connected through ePTM, an app for parents and teachers meeting.