Education should not be based on textbooks: Kalam

President A P J Abdul Kalam today said that the education system of the country should not only be based on textbooks.

New Delhi, June 19 : President A P J Abdul Kalam today said that the education system of the country should not only be based on textbooks.

"The education system has to be creative, interactive, self-learning and informal with focus on values, merit and quality instead of being text book based teaching," Kalam said at Golden Jubilee Celebrations of Thangal Kunju Musaliar College of Engineering here.

Commenting on the industrial need of the country, Kalam said that workers have to be "flexibly skilled, knowledgeable and self-empowered" instead of being merely categorised as skilled or semi-skilled.

"The quality of personnel will be knowledge based besides addressing enhanced performance," he added.

He further said that the impact on environment and energy would be strikingly less compared to being heavy.

On research and development, Kalam said: "Good teaching emanates from Research. The teachers' love for research and their experience in research are vital for the growth of any institution."

The level and extent of the research work it accomplishes judge any institution, he added.

ANI