Chennai, Jun 29 (PTI) Imploring educators to pay attention to imparting education in one"s mother tongue, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Wednesday fervently appealed to schools across the nation to foster the spirit of curiosity, innovation and excellence among the students.Challenges and opportunities abound in a technology-driven fast changing world and in this context the best skill schools could impart a student is adaptability, he said."Students must be trained to think quickly on their feet, be agile and innovate using cutting-edge technologies to solve 21st century problems," the Vice President emphasised while inaugurating the Vellore International School (VIS), established at Kayar, near Kelambakkam, near here, by the Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT).Complimenting the management of VIT Group of Institutions for the important milestone in their educational journey, he said the VIT Group has been making consistent efforts to strengthen higher education in the private sector and "I am confident this institution will be another feather in their cap." Educational strategy should be aligned to futuristic approach and shun rote learning. Also artificial segregation between curricular and extracurricular activities should be dispensed with and the students encouraged in multidiscipline, he suggested. "It is my fervent appeal to the schools across the nation to foster the spirit of curiosity, innovation and excellence in students," Naidu said.The Vice President said he was informed that the VIS is trying to introduce the concept of ‘house parent’ to integrate the positive aspects of Guru-Shishya tradition with modern pedagogical practices.Urging teachers to pay attention to the use of mother tongue, he said wherever possible, at least until the primary level, the medium of instruction in public and private schools should be in mother tongue."We must encourage students to speak freely in their mother tongue in their social environment on the school premises, at all the cultural events and in their homes. Only when we can freely and proudly speak our mother tongue can we truly appreciate our cultural heritage," he said.Reiterating that focusing on our mother tongue is not to suggest one not to learn other languages like English, Naidu said he often said that one should learn as many languages as possible.What is required is a strong foundation in the mother language. Proficiency in other languages, in addition to one"s mother tongue, helps build cultural bridges and opens windows to new worlds of experience, the VP said.Schools should focus on value-based, holistic education that brings out the greatest potential and highest virtues from each student. Pointing out that education without values is no education at all, Naidu said academic institutions should strive to provide the required facilities and encourage students to take up regular physical activity."The VIS is the result of 6 years of detailed brainstorming and meticulous planning. We envision the school to nurture creativity and foster a spirit of innovation in young minds," VIS chairman & vice president of VIT G V Selvam, said.Though the space required to establish a medical college is 20 acres, this school has been raised on 35 acres land, and designed with provision for ample open spaces, bright sunlight and a peaceful ambience, Selvam said.Pointing out that the Russia-Ukraine war turned the spotlight on Indian students pursuing medical courses abroad, VIT founder-Chancellor G Viswanathan urged the central government to increase the intake of students in the Indian medical colleges across the country and help lakhs of students realise their dreams of becoming doctors.Not just Ukraine, our students go to UK, China and other countries to study medicine, he said. "Hence, the government should address this problem by increasing the intake of students in medical colleges by considering to introduce shift system of education. This ought to be done as a priority as we need to address the serious issue of shortage of doctors in India," Viswanathan said.Tamil Nadu MSME Minister T M Anbarasan read out Chief Minister M K Stalin"s message congratulating the VIT on commencing the Vellore International School.Sekar Viswanathan, Vice President, VIT, also spoke. PTI JSP ROH ROH