New Delhi: Terming the teachers as nation builders, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today (Sep 5, 2004) declared himself a teacher who does not know how he landed in politics.

"I am basically a teacher. I do not know how I landed in politics," Singh said at a function in New Delhi at his residence to felicitate the national award winning teachers on the occasion of the Teachers Day.

Terming his teaching days as "best days" of his life, he said, "Teaching is my first love."

Singh had taught at Punjab University and Delhi School of Economics.

Teaching happens to be a noble profession, Singh said and added, "You are the nation builders."

On the teachers' role in nation building, he said, "Teachers shape the minds of the children who are the future of the nation."

They impart a value system, groom personality of children, he said and added, "A lot depends on what you teach."

Narrating his days as student, he said, "I came from a poor family and studied at a primary school which had no roof."

"We have come a long way since those days," he said now schools exist everywhere, but we are yet to universalise the primary education.

Expressing concern at high rates of school dropout, Singh said, "We should ensure that none of them leaves without completing the course."