New Delhi, Aug 30: Schools across the country have been instructed by the human resource development ministry to make sure that all children watch PM Narendra Modi’s live televised address on Teachers’ Day on September 5. The address will be telecast live by Doordarshan between 3 pm and 4.45 pm.
For schools without television sets, cable connections, projectors and amplifiers will need to be arranged so that students can both see the address and interact in the ensuing question-and-answer session. This will not be easy in the country’s remote areas.
Even schools in urban areas are finding it difficult to comply with the HRD Teachers’ Day circular. The circular has raised the hackles of schools, many of which are asking how justified is the government to impose such orders on the schools. Is it not an attempt to Modi-fy the Teachers’ Day, it is being asked? Various school management as well as parents are visibly upset over the government’s move.
The news is also bound to attract numerous unfavourable notices in the social media.
There is already a rising chorus that the government is using the event to glorify Modi, with some going to the extent of saying that these are dangerous Fascist tendencies that need to be nipped in the bud. This is nothing short of creating a Modi cult in this democratic multicultural country, they point out. And their number is growing rapidly.
All schools have their own Teachers’ Day programmes for September 5. “With all schools asked to catch Modi live on Teachers’ Day, what will happen to these events,” asks an academic associated with a top Delhi school. He also apprehends more government interference in the schools’ functioning in time to come.
Following the Modi government’s diktat school timings are being revised for the day so that children do not miss any part of the programme. This is because most schools start early and classes are over by 2 pm.
The Delhi directorate of education (DOE) has asked all schools in the city, including private unaided ones, to hold classes from 1 pm to 5.30 pm on September 5. Other schools can choose their timings, so long as the children do not miss any part of the address or the interactive session. The DoE wants schools to strictly comply with the instructions.
Moves are afoot to arrange for television sets in schools without them, and in those that face power outages are being supplied with generators, said a ministry official.
Modi will meet the students from all classes up to 12 at the Manekshaw Centre in Delhi Cantonment between 3 pm and 4.45 pm. After his opening address students from five centres, including Dantewada, Tirunelvelli, Bhuj and Silchar, will pose questions.
52 news channels, radio and FM channels have also been roped in to broadcast the programme.
The EDUSAT system will be utilised and websites of the HRD Ministry and state education departments will stream the programme.
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