October 15, which marks the birth anniversary of India’s former President and great scientist Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, is celebrated as World Students’ Day every year. The day was declared by the United Nations in 2010 to honour Dr Kalam‘s efforts to bolster education and learning around the world and to celebrate his love for students. The theme for this year’s students’ day celebration is  “Learning for people, planet, prosperity and peace,” which aims to reaffirm the role of education as a fundamental right of every person across the world.

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Kalam, who was often seen interacting and spending time with students across institutes during his tenure as President, was of the opinion that promoting education and inculcating good values in our students is the first step towards development.

Why is Dr APJ Abdul Kalam birth anniversary celebrated as World Students’ Day?

Dr Kalam’s birth anniversary is observed as the International Day for Students’ because of his immense contribution towards education and upliftment of students.

Dr Kalam always believed that students are the force and the minds that take a country forward. He believed that ‘no matter what their field of study or background is, every student and their struggle to gain knowledge should be celebrated.”

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Apart from that, Dr Kalam was a dedicated teacher too and thus, served as a great inspiration to the students, not only in India but across the world. 

A great student

Dr Kalam’s memory is associated with students’ because he was a great student himself, who struggled to make it big in his life.

Born in Tamil Nadu’s Rameswaram, APJ Abdul Kalam started selling newspapers with his father at the age of 10 to support his education. For this purpose, he used to go to Rameswaram Road Railway station to collect the papers. Due to war conditions, the train that carried newspapers, the Madras Dhanushkodi Mail, would pass through the station without stopping so the bundles were thrown from the running train and Kalam used to collect it from there.

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A learner in the true sense, Dr Kalam used to study in dim street lights because he had no electricity in his place.

Dr Kalam served as the President of India for the term 2002-2007. Before this, he was the Chief Scientific Adviser to the Prime Minister and a Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) scientist.  

The leader, died on July 27, 2015 while delivering a lecture at IIM Shillong.