Fifty children from Parivartan Shikshan Sanstha, a NGO in Shantinagar, were special guests at an interactive session with former President APJ Abdul Kalam at the Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI) on Saturday.

The event was organised as part of the institute’s social responsibility subject. Kalam encouraged students to ask him questions when he said, “Its only questioning that leads to science and innovation.”

The students did not disappoint the former President as they asked him several questions.

A student from the college asked what led to the making of scientist Kalam. “I was just a 10-year-old when my teacher Subramanian thought us how birds fly. Life changed for me at that very moment. I took up engineering at the Madras Institute of Technology and became an aeronautical engineer. It’s all in the hands of the primary class teachers to inculcate that one dream in the heads of young kids to realise their dreams,” Kalam explained.

Expressing concern over the present day education system, Kalam said there is a huge need to bring in change. “Secondary and higher education is meaningless if primary education is not imparted meaningfully. A lot of changes have to be brought about in the education system and it needs to be all inclusive if India has to grow,” Kalam said while answering a question posed by T Amol, a student from VJTI.

Kalam said that if all children decide to walk out of their little cocoon and pledge to teach at least five illiterate persons then by 2020 a large difference can be brought about.