by Rajan Gupta

It is a great priviledge to participate and see the many beautiful and thought provoking multimedia presentations and appreciate the very hard work put in by the teachers and students of the participating schools. I would like to first express my heartfelt gratitute to the Principal, Mrs I. Kumar, and the trustees of Kundan Vidya Mandir for holding this competition. I would also like to acknowledge the chief guest, distinguished attendees and my friends, the students, our future leaders.

Friends, today is a great day for me as we add to the grand idea that my grandfather, Rai Bahadur Shri Kundan Lal Ji, had in 1941. His vision was that everyone in India should be educated and every child should have access to formal education that generates skills and abilities and provides her/him with the means to create a future for themselves and for the country. In 1941 he looked for the biggest vacuum in the field of education and found it in the education of girls. His solution, overcoming the many social and cultural barriers that existed, was simple -- he started a school for girls out of his own resources. His legacy is KVM and the whole nation appreciates this contribution. Today, India faces many societal challenges and we have to find new solutions. Through the years many great minds and hands have guided KVM to make it a leader in education, a school that is willing to help all other schools share its successes, and continues to explore new ideas. Today, we witness another new idea - through the creation of multimedia presentations, students have become the agents of change.

Unfortunately, India is still faced with the same vacuum in education; about half of India'S population is still functionally illiterate, and the fraction is even higher for girls. Furthermore, it is no longer sufficient to be simply "literate", and especially "literate" as defined by the census bureau. Today, the world needs thoughtful, technically savvy people who can negotiate the fast pace of discovery rapid growth in knowledge, and the fast pace of change. The primary goal of all nations is to prepare their future generations to confront the challenges of the day -- to create a just and equitable knowledge society based on science and technology. I sincerely hope that this multimedia project is another step in providing students with skills and tools so that they can become lifelong self-learners and assume responsibility for creating the India they want -- a just, nurturing and forward looking nation that cares for our one planet earth and for all life on it.

The multimedia presentations you saw on societal issues is the first step in raising awareness. Societal issues are very complex. Every time I think an issue is simple, I find layers upon layers of complexity and subtlety, and a maze of connections with many other issues. There are no simple answers. Through the course of my life I have learned that when dealing with complex social issues we must put our heads together and work cooperatively if we are to avoid making gross mistakes. We must work incredibly hard and long to right the ills, preserve the good and noble, and provide dignity and opportunity for all. In this endeavor our whole life becomes one of learning and of teaching. The most important lesson is that in order to affect change we must first set a good example. In this endeavor I am, today, a willing student and the school students are the teachers.

One essential ingredient necessary for creating the India we all want is providing correct and timely information and awareness to all the citizens, and based on this information the ability to make carefully thought through, honest, and considerate decisions. In developing the nation's human resource, there is nothing more fundamental than providing health care and education to all people. Without these no person can realize his/her potential or be called an enlightened citizen of the 21st century. The multimedia presentations you saw today highlight the need to think deeply on societal issues.

What we saw in today's competition is the result of giving our future leaders some starting information and a tool (a computer). Using these they have, over the last few months, struggled with how best to express their thoughts, feelings, emotions and aspirations and to create a tool to promote the welfare of all. We need to listen to them and learn from their fresh viewpoint.

The students are initiating a dialogue. They are starting a movement. Let us listen to them, feel their feelings, rejoice in their joy of creating the future they want, and lend our support to help them realize their aspirations. Let us understand that a child cannot distinguish between good or bad and right or wrong without role models that demonstrate these virtues by their day to day actions. Today, the students of the participating schools (through their representative teams) are taking on a new role --- they are simultaneously being students and teachers, they are being impressionable and role models. They are looking at the world with fresh, honest and uncorrupted eyes.

For this to be a meaningful dialogue the students must carry out their part fully. They must look at the world around them with the goal to change it for the better. They must understand their environment and plan with humility, care and wisdom. They must think afresh, always making suggestions that they themselves would be willing to carry out. They must be willing to create and not just deny and destroy. They must assume responsibility before exercising power. Honesty, compassion and humility should be their constant guides.

Today, I hope that my generation is listening to the students as they voice their concerns about the society they are growing into. We must help them realize their dreams. We need to work together with them to make India proud - a great nation in which each man, woman, and child has food to eat, health care, clothes to wear, education and training to realize their true potential and dreams. In the words of the most recent Indian born Nobel prize winner Amartya Sen, "a future in which each person is economically, politically and socially free".

Let us pay respect to our forefathers and foremothers by honoring our future.

Jai Hind