Sunday, 23 March 2025
Sunday, 23 March 2025
Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacted with 36 students selected from across the country at Delhi’s Sunder Nursery – taking a break from the townhall format – where he shared insights and tips with them and also for their parents and teachers in the eighth edition of Pariksha Pe Charcha.
In Pariksha Pe Charcha, the prime minister himself counsels students about to appear for important board exams.
Here are five pieces of advice the PM had for the students.
Eat seasonal fruits
“When a seasonal fruit comes, the first offering is made to God. Even God needs seasonal fruits. We are still human. Should we eat seasonal fruits or not?” Modi told the students while explaining the importance of nutrition.
Don’t bother with degrees
“Cricketers review their performance after every match,” Modi told the school students. “Everyone is born with good and bad qualities. If we can work on our good qualities and improve them further, then no one will ever ask, what is your degree? Where did you study? How much marks did you score in class X? No one will ask.”
He may not hold much faith in degrees, but the prime minister’s educational qualifications have been questioned and debated hotly by his critics.
Under educational qualification on the Parliament website, Modi has a BA and MA in Political Science from the universities of Ahmedabad and Delhi. On May 9, 2016, the BJP’s official handle on Twitter (now known as ‘X’) had shared two images, one showing “MA (External) Entire Political Science” from Delhi University.
Modi had bad handwriting
“When I was a student, my teachers worked really hard on improving my handwriting, my handwriting is not good. Their handwriting improved, mine did not. I was impressed at how much they worked on me,” the prime minister said.
Confession on memory
“Recite whatever you can remember. Mujhe bilkul yaad nahin rehta [I can’t remember anything], PM Modi told a student from Kerala who also writes poems in Hindi.
In an earlier interview, however, Modi had said he has a “photogenic” memory.
“When I am given a document, I don’t read it horizontally. I take a glance and keep it aside,” he had said.
In the same interview he had said, he has never been to a college.
Sleep is important
“Absence of illness does not mean we are healthy. Wellness should be weighed in the balance of nutrition. Do we sleep well or not is also connected to nutrition… Sleep is extremely important for fitness and wellness. Entire medical science is focussed on how well a patient sleeps at night, for how many hours? These questions are being studied. You must be wondering, the prime minister is telling us to sleep,” Modi said.
For years BJP leaders have been telling the world that Modi works for hours and hours and sleeps very little. Following his interaction with the prime minister in December, actor Saif Ali Khan had also confirmed that Modi sleeps for only three hours.
