’Digital connectivity a basic right for children’

Mumbai, January 3: Prime Minister rendra Modi on Saturday pitched for making digital connectivity a "basic right" for children just as their right to schooling, and stressed the need to make school education more "creative".

“School education in science and mathematics should become more creative and stimulating. Let us also use the internet to bring the best of our scientists in direct contact with our children and our youth. Digital connectivity should become as much a basic right as access to school,” Modi said, while iugurating the 102nd Indian Science Congress here.

The university system in India, Modi said, must be placed at the cutting edge of the research and development activities in the country.

He called for broadening the scope of investment in science and technology that is at present focused on central government agencies.

“Our universities must be freed from the clutches of excessive regulation and cumbersome procedures. They must have a higher degree of academic freedom and autonomy, and, there should be as much emphasis on research as on teaching,” he said.

Modi said India needed to foster a strong culture of collaboration between institutions and across disciplines to take advantage of developments, innovations and expertise in diverse areas.