Expressing concern over the decline in educational standards, Chief Minister Harish Rawat today said if Uttarakhand does not wake up to this challenge soon it will be too late.
"We are living in highly competitive times. The educational standards have undergone such sweeping changes in recent years that even securing a distinction is not enough, not to speak of getting a first class. You have to be the first among firsts," Rawat said at a seminar here on improving educational standards.
Noting that teacher-disciple (guru-shishya) tradition would end in the era of information technology if the state does not wake up to this challenge soon, Rawat said though leading in terms of infrastructure in technology education the falling standards of education in Uttarakhand were a cause for concern.
"We will have to make our human resource capable and efficient if we want the younger generation to survive the challenges of this competitive world.
"Teachers who represent the intellectual class should think up ways to improve the standard of education and bring about competitive excellence," he said.
Rawat also asked them to be ready to serve in remote hill areas where there was a dearth of teachers promising to make all basic facilities available to them.
