Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said that through the new National Education Policy (NEP), a forward-looking and futuristic education system was being created in India for the first time, and accused the past governments of not doing anything to regain the country's lost glory due to their "slave mentality".

In a virtual address to the 75th ‘Amrut Mahotsav’ of Shree Swaminarayan Gurukul Sansthan, the Prime Minister added that the number of Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT), Indian Institute of Management (IIMs) and medical colleges have also increased substantially since 2014.

PM Modi said, “In the country today, the number of larger educational institutions like IIT, IIIT, IIM and AIIMS are increasing. After 2014, the number of medical colleges has seen a more than 65 percent increase. Through the new education policy, the country is for the first time preparing an education system which is forward-looking and futuristic”.

“You know very well that for the bright future of India, our existing education policy and institutes have a big role to play. Therefore, in this ‘amrit kaal’ of independence, whether it is educational infrastructure or education policy, we remain involved with greater speed and expansion,” he added.

When the country became independent, it was our responsibility to revive India's ancient glory and our great pride in the field of education, he said.

"But under the pressure of the slave mentality, the governments did not move in that direction. And in some matters, they went in the reverse direction. In these circumstances, once again our saints and acharyas took up the task of fulfilling this duty towards the country. Swaminarayan Gurukul is a living example of this opportunity," he said.

PM Modi said that India showed the way to the world by carrying out research in the fields ranging from 'atma tattva' to 'paramatma tattva', from spirituality to ayurveda, from social science to solar science, from maths to metallurgy, and from zero to infinity. Women scholars debated with their men counterparts at a time when the term 'gender equality' was not even born, he said.

"India showed light to humanity in those dark times, offering rays from which the journey of the modern world and modern science started," he said.

According to Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Shree Swaminarayan Gurukul Sansthan has expanded and currently has more than 40 branches all over the world, providing facilities for school, undergraduate and postgraduate education to more than 25,000 students.

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