Educating children can check population: Kalam

Favouring the proposed Parliamentary Bill for mandatory free education for children under 14 years,former president A P J Abdul Kalam said on Thursday that it would help India in checking its population growth.

“Improved women’s education can reduce the family size. And the (proposed) Bill for providing free and mandatory education to children upto age of fourteen years will combine well to help controlling population,” Kalam said while replying at a question of the staffers of a training institute run by the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL).

“Reduced family size can be found in some states like Mizoram and Kerala following education among the women. Free and compulsory education will help this (in controlling population),” he added.

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Kalam was here to attend the 47th foundation day of the Management Training Institute (MTI).

Suggesting SAIL to come up with a low cost and environment-friendly housing-design to increase the per capital consumption of steel,the ‘missile man’ asked technocrats and scientists to tread the unexplored path towards nation building.