New Delhi: Former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam said on July 14 that primary school teachers in India should be selected the way civil service officers are to make sure that they are qualified and equipped to groom youngsters.

Kalam was speaking on Capacity Building in Young Minds for the Central Institute for Educational Technology (CIET) lecture series at the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi.

Kalam said, “Like an (Indian Administrative Service) IAS fellow has to go through a preliminary exam, then a main exam and then an interview. Of 400,000-500,000 people, just 1,000 are selected... Like that a primary school teacher will have to go through such a process.”

The former president also stressed on the need for a better system of evaluation for students.

He said, “Schools are evaluated according to the performance of students but a paradigm shift is required where the way students are groomed is important.”

Speaking about the class 10 board examination, which the HRD ministry has proposed to make optional, Kalam stated, “I believe teachers can play very important role in this and also the curriculum (matters). For example, I am concerned with primary education nobody has to take students to the schools, they rush to the schools.”