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When is World Students' Day
India celebrates World Students' Day on October 15 every year. The day is marked to celebrate the birth anniversary of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam. People’s President, as Dr Kalam was popularly called, served as India's 11th president from 2002 to 2007. He was elected with the support of then Bharatiya Janata Party-led govt under the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the main Opposition party, Indian National Congress.
He was an aerospace scientist, teacher and played a crucial role in the success of Pokhran-II nuclear tests in 1998, which earned him the title of “Missile Man of India”. India’s missile defence programme reached several milestones under him.
However, he wanted the world to remember him as a teacher. Dr Kalam was a president everyone knew about. Students, children and teachers looked up to him and he loved to interact and listen to new ideas. His famous quote, “you have to dream first to succeed” inspired a generation of students and children to do what they love. His thoughts and quotes are still widely shared. Kalam was a man of principle and ideas and he surpassed the expectations of his job and which is why it was thought fit to mark his birth anniversary as World Students Day.
APJ Abdul Kalam's life
Born and raised in Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu in 1931, Dr Kalam studied aerospace engineering. He spent four decades in DRDO, Isro handling important projects and serving as science administrator.
He won numerous awards in his lifetime. He was awarded Padma Bhushan in 1981 and Padma Vibhushan in 1990. He was the recipient of Bharat Ratna for his contribution to research. He was also an author and wrote many books such as ‘Wings of Fire’, ‘My journey’, ‘Ignited Minds’ among others.
Kalam's death
Dr Kalam died doing what he loved the most — teaching. In 2015, while he was delivering a lecture at Indian Institute of Management, Shillong, he suffered a stroke and died almost instantly.
World Students Day, however, is not officially observed by the United Nations as reported by several Indian news agencies.
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