File photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Schools across India are attempting to decode a set of dos and don'ts issued by the government for Teacher's Day, when Prime Minister
Narendra Modi will make an address and interact with schoolchildren.
They have been directed to ensure that children are present in school between 3 to 4.45 pm on September 5, Friday next, to watch the programme which will be telecast and webcast live. The schools have been asked to re-arrange class timings and mid-day meal timings accordingly.
Union Education Minister Smriti Irani said today, "It is voluntary. Nobody is being forced." (
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But a government note to Delhi schools says the directions "are to be complied with strictly" by heads of aided and unaided schools and adds, "Any laxity in the arrangements shall be viewed seriously."
The note instructs schools to ensure discipline during the live telecast and has specified that equipment like projectors, amplifiers and TVs must be hired if schools do not have their own.
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has on its website "requested" all schools to make arrangements for children to view the telecast of Prime Minister Modi talking to 1,000 students at the Manekshaw Auditorium in Delhi and fielding questions on video conferencing from children across the country.
Madhya Pradesh, a BJP state, has said participation will be compulsory for all schools. Bihar's education minister Vrishan Patel of the Janata Dal (United) said schools in the state had been instructed to do their best to follow the instructions on the PM's address, but called it "a half-baked effort to become Chacha (uncle) Modi like Chacha Nehru."
Mamata Banerjee ruled West Bengal has refused to make Mr Modi's programme mandatory for students, say sources. A principals' association in election-bound Maharashtra has welcomed it but ministers in the Congress-led state government ate reportedly cribbing about having to foot the bill for what they call "the PM's Public Relations exercise."
A Delhi school principal said teachers off her school would go ahead with a plan to watch the new Bollywood release 'Mary Kom' while senior students would watch the PM. "It is Teacher's Day after all,' she reasoned.