Maharashtra Education Minister Vinod Tawde said "It was wrong to issue such a circular."
A directive asking schools and colleges in Maharashtra's Satara district to celebrate St. Valentine's Day as "Mother's Day" was withdrawn on Friday, an official said.
Maharashtra Education Minister Vinod Tawde said of the Feb 11 circular: "It was wrong to issue such a circular."
Shortly after IANS broke the story, a top state education department official called up the district education authorities and asked them to withdraw the order immediately.
The Wednesday circular, issued by the Satara District Education Officer(Primary) directing schools and colleges to celebrate Valentine's Day on Saturday as Mother's Day, caused a huge row.
Hours after it came to the attention of the public, it triggered opposition from social activists and NGOs. Officials sent out a fresh circular asking all the educational institutions to ignore the earlier order.
"We have withdrawn the previous order and issued a fresh one. The earlier order went out owing to some technical issues," District Education Officer Pravin Ahire told IANS.
The Maharashtra education department in Mumbai has sought a report to know under what circumstances was the order issued, an official source said.
Official sources contended that the idea for such a celebration came from a senior district education official but the circular was issued before final discussions were held.
The earlier order had been sent to hundreds of public and private primary and secondary schools besides around 25 colleges in the district.
All these educational institutions were also directed to make the students sing a Marathi poem dedicated as love for mother - "Hambrun Vasar Aale Chaat-ti Jawa Gai".
They were reportedly told to click photographs of the Mother's Day celebrations and submit them to the district education officer.