President Pranab Mukherjee Friday dedicated Rashtrapati Bhavan Museum to the nation at a ceremony presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.Speaking on the occasion, the president said the museum will enable the people to get an inside view of the Rashtrapati Bhavan, its art, architecture and help them get educated about lives of past presidents.An official release said that among those present on the occasion were former prime minister Manmohan Singh, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu, Human Resource Development Smriti Irani, Delhi Lt Governor Najeeb Jung, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad and Indian Council for Cultural Relations chairman Karan Singh.The president, the prime minister and the other leaders toured the museum after the ceremony.Mukherjee also inaugurated a knowledge hub in the Rajendra Prasad Sarvodaya Vidyalaya within the presidential palace premises and 16 serviced apartments which will facilitate an expansion of Rashtrapati Bhavan's in-residence programme for innovators, artists and writers.
He also launched a mobile application for Rashtrapati Bhavan, a new design for the president's website and a video film on the important events of the second year of his presidency.Mukherjee said the newly designed website with easier accessibility, mobile-friendliness and additional online services will be helpful to the citizens.The release said that the knowledge hub is a space for innovative teaching/learning practices which will nurture imagination and creativity of students at a young age."The use of collaborative and interactive pedagogical practices will help teachers connect to the world outside their classroom, engage with real-world issues and foster 21st century skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration and communication that students need to thrive in a knowledge economy," the release said.It said the knowledge hub will also work with the local community in the president's estate and empower them with the skills of digital literacy and basic entrepreneurship.