Prime Minister Narendra Modi Saturday emphasised the importance of character building over literacy and called for 'wholesome' education in the country.
He was addressing the inaugural ceremony of "Conference on Academic Leadership on Education for Resurgence" organised by the HRD Ministry.
"Knowledge and education are not restricted to books. The purpose of education is to enable balanced growth of every dimension of a human being, which is not possible without innovation," Modi said.
"Ambedkar, Deen Dayal Upadhya and Ram Manohar Lohiya always emphasized on character-building over literacy. Swami Vivekananda stressed on wholesome education that makes us a human," he added.
The prime minister asserted that without innovation life would become a burden.
"Innovation is very important because without it, life seems like a burden. In our ancient universities like Takshshila, Nalanda and Vikramashila, innovation was given emphasis along with knowledge.
"I insist that students should give knowledge in classrooms of college, university but they also add them to the aspirations of the country," he said.
The conference is being attended by vice chancellors and directors of over 350 higher education institutions.
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