Updated on: Monday, June 07, 2010
New Delhi: Former IPS officer Kiran Bedi underscored the crucial role education plays in the overall development of society and said every possible effort should be made to educate people on issues related to life.
Addressing a function, organised to mark the formal launch of an educational programme on family issues by an NGO here today, Ms Bedi said it was very exciting that these kinds of educational programmes were being launched in the country.
''It would certainly help many, as I have experienced on my own that wherever education was being provided, either by government or NGOs, it worked in the overall interest of the people,'' she said.
The 'Family Life Education' programme by Parivar Seva Sanstha would have a direct positive impact on the society, the Magsaysay awardee said.
''I myself while working with the slum children have seen how mothers have started realising the importance of good health,'' Ms Bedi said, adding that most of them have stopped giving birth every year.
''She (the mother) has seen her children studying in 'gali' (street) schools and realised that she could take care of a few only and not many...because the woman knows her children have learnt something which would help them stand on their feet some day,'' she said.
Speaking on the occasion, Ms Kiran Walia, Minister of Health and Family Welfare Woman and Child Development, Languages, NCT of Delhi, congratulated the organisations working for uplift of the urban poor and said the government would help in every possible manner.
''Education and health...both are important... as they complement each other,'' the minister said underlining the importance of getting the mother educated.
An educated mother would inculcate good values in her children and society would progress, she said.