The Vice President of India, M Venkaiah Naidu today called upon people to learn as many languages as possible and asserted that there should not be imposition of any language, nor should there be opposition to any particular language.

Interacting with students from Sharada Residential School, who had returned recently after visiting NASA and other places in the United States of America, Naidu stressed that India was blessed with many languages and asked students and teachers to give importance to promoting mother tongue, while learning other languages.

Describing travelling as a form of education and good learning experience, the Vice President advised the students to visit all the major tourist places within India to get acquainted with various facets of India’s culture, heritage, languages and cuisine and enhance their understanding of India’s unique cultural mosaic. “Before going out, look with in and enhance your knowledge,” he added.

Asking children to spend time in the lap of nature, the Vice President wanted them to take active part in protecting and preserving the nature and culture. He also called upon them to take a pledge to stop using single-use plastics from October 2 as suggested by the Prime Minister.

Stressing the need to allocate 50 percent of schooling hours outside classrooms to enhance physical fitness of the students, Naidu cautioned the students about the growing incidences of non-communicable diseases due to unhealthy lifestyle practices and food habits.

Naidu advised them to shun junk food and adopt healthy dietary habits as the Indian food was time tested and prescribed according to the seasons and regions.

He advised school administrations to encourage students to take part in voluntary services such as NSS, NCC, Scouts and Guides as they instil the spirit of volunteerism and service in them.