PM Modi urges teachers to watch for drug addiction, excessive screen time among students

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while interacting with the national award-winning teachers on Friday at his Lok Kalyan Marg residence, urged them to stay alert to drug addiction cases among students and help them regulate excessive screen time by engaging them in extracurricular activities like sports, physical play, and creative hobbies.

He emphasised that teachers are required to look beyond the academic capability of students and notice their behaviour and everyday activities. Talking on drug cases, Modi said that in metropolitan cities and big universities, it is rather difficult to spot if any student gets affected by the problem, as no one knows who gives whom what.

"In these circumstances, teachers should take the initiative for awareness and also observe minutely if any change (in behaviour) is witnessed in any child," he added. He advised teachers to look beyond books and syllabuses, inside the lives of the students.

"You should not allow the childhood of a student to die. The biggest contribution can be given by the teachers by keeping childhood alive in students' lives," he said. He then shifted teachers' attention towards students spending excessive time on phones and encouraged them towards outdoor sports activities.

He suggested that screen time can be reduced naturally by inculcating an interest in sports, physical games and creative activities. President Droupadi Murmu also shared her thoughts with citizens today, on National Teachers' Day 2026, through an article titled "Shaping Minds; Building the Future", written on the occasion of Teachers' Day.

She mentioned that it is the sacred responsibility of teachers to inspire their students to be good human beings. "As we advance on this journey, I want our teachers to shape generations of students who value the richness of our cultural heritage and traditions; who develop a scientific outlook and work for the welfare of humanity; who uphold the ideal of Antyodaya; who protect the environment and all living creatures; who strive for individual and collective excellence, and who tred ahead with the motto "nation first," she added.

Also Read | Kargil War shaped his childhood, innovation shaped his classroom: Meet National Teacher Awardee Mohd Mustafa In her article, Murmu said that parents and guardians dispose their highest trust in teachers when they send their children to school.

"They believe that the teachers will treat the children as their own and take utmost care of the child's safety and development. It is the dharma of every teacher to uphold this sacred trust placed in them," the president said.

She stated that an educators' demeanor and speech should not trigger fear or anxiety in students and should not shatter their morale or develop any feeling of inferiority. Also Read |He once saw education as his only way to a job.

Today, he is a National Teacher Awardee This year, Draupadi Murmu conferred the National Teachers Awards on 82 teachers and educators from three departments, in the presence of Education Minister, Prahlad Joshi. The list of awardees included 48 teachers from the Department of School Education and Literacy, 21 teachers from higher educational institutions and polytechnics, and 13 skill trainers from the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.