They have termed it as an attempt to hegemonize social spaces, pointing that the PM is not the Teacher-in-Chief of the country.
By TCN News,
New Delhi: Civil society activists, comprising of academics, lawyers, artistes and rights activists have issued a joint statement criticising the circulars of different educational bodies to make arrangements to ensure that all the school children across the country listen to the Prime Minister’s address to the children in their school premises on the occasion of Teacher’s Day on September 5.
Terming the government’s order an “attempt to hegemonize social spaces,” they said that the PM is taking over the day, which belongs to the teaching community and pushing them off stage, adding that the PM is not the Teacher-in-Chief of the country and he should leave the children alone.
Crescent School, Delhi (TCN file photo)
They said they are disturbed by the circulars issued by the CBSE and other authorities dealing with different systems like the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), Directorate of Education, Delhi, Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, etc. asking schools to make arrangements to ensure that all the school children across the country listen to the Prime Minister’s address to the children in their school premises on the occasion of Teacher’s Day on September 5.
“It is an extraordinary and unprecedented step in the history of school education in independent India. Not only does this order treat children as passive and captive elements who do not have a view of their own, it also violates the international convention of Child Rights which says that children have a right to form opinion and therefore they need to be asked whether they would like to be part of such an extra-school activity beyond their usual school hours,” the statement added.
Although the MHRD has clarified verbally that this is a voluntary activity and not binding on the schools and children, yet the written orders by the authorities are still in vogue asking the schools to furnish the status report by 2nd September and remain prepared for surprise inspections in this regard. Moreover schools are being asked to spend from their own resource pool which in itself is very poor and inadequate. The resources identified for school related activities are sought to be diverted for an extraneous activity, not intrinsic to the curriculum.
They have demanded that the orders issued in this regard be withdrawn immediately and the solemnity and gaity of the day be left untouched.
The joint statement was signed by following persons:
1. Apoorvanand, Delhi University
2. Mukul Priyadarshini, Miranda House, Delhi University
3. Prachi Kalra, University of Delhi
4. Laxmi Murthy, Journalist, Bangalore
5. Jenny Rowena, Dept of English, Miranda House, University of Delhi
6. Hany Babu, Dept of English, University of Delhi
7. Dvijendra Nath Kalia, University of Delhi
8. Firoz Ahmad B-8, Neelkanth-1, Burari Main Road, Sant Nagar, Delhi- 110084
9. Ira Singh, Deptt of English, Miranda House
10. Preeti Chauhan, Lakshmibai College
11. Om Prakash, Zakir Hussain Delhi College
12. Ashu Threja
13. Radhika Menon, University 0f Delhi
14. Naveen Gaur,
15. Dr Yasser Arafath, Dept of History, University of Delhi
16. Asmita Aasaavari, CORD, New Delhi
17. Abha Dev Habib, Physics Department, Miranda House, University of Delhi
18. Nidhi Seth, Delhi
19. Nandini Dutta, Miranda House, University 0f Delhi
20. Nidhi Gulati, University 0f Delhi
21. Sadhna Saxena, CIE, University 0f Delhi
22. Prabhat Kumar, Ankur Society for Alternatives in Education, Delhi
23. Tultul Biswas, Bhopal
24. Dr. Rohini Hensman, writer and independent scholar, Mumbai
25. Dr) Jairus Banaji (historian, Mumbai/SOAS London
26. Kasim Sait
27. Manisha Sethi, JMI
28. Sanghamitra Misra, DU
29. Rahul Govind, DU,
30. Tanweer Fazal, JNU
31. Mona Das, DU
32. Ahmed Sohaib JMI
33. Aparajay, student from MIDS, Chennai
34. Mohammad Imran
35. Nivedita Menon, Professor, JNU
36. Kamayani Bali Mahabal, Feminist and Human Rights Activist, Bombay
37. Nandini Manjrekar, TISS, Mumbai
38. Smriti Sharma, University 0f Delhi
39. Senganglu THaimei, Dept of English, Miranda House, University of Delhi
40. Shweta Sachdeva Jha, Dept of English, Miranda House, University of Delhi
41. Parul Bharadwaj, Dept of English, Miranda House, University of Delhi
42. Yemuna Sunny, Eklavya, Hoshangabad, MP
43. Tanvir Aeijaz, Ramjas College, University of Delhi
44. Janaki Nair, JNU
45. Janaki Rajan, Jamia Millia Islamia
46. Sukla Sen , Mumbai
47. Shrenik Mutha, MKSS, Rajasthan
48. Yemuna
49. Mukul Dube, Delhi
50. Kiran Shaeen, Journalist,Delhi
51. Nasiruddin H Khan, Journalist, Delhi
52. Dr. Manoj Kumar Jha,Professor and Head’Department of Social Work
University of Delhi
53. Kasim Sait
54. Dinesh Patel, Eklavya, Bhopal
55. Uday Kumar, Professor, Department of English, DU
56. Firoz Ahmaed, Delhi
57. Reyazul Haq, Writer, Delhi
58. Aamir Edresy, President, Association of Muslim Professionals
59. Tejaswini Niranjana, TISS, Mumbai
60. Vineet TiwariGen. Secretary, Madhya Pradesh Progressive Writers Association
61. Mohammad Imran
62. Dhwal Jaiswal, Researcher, Delhi University
63. Sandeep Dube, Ellavya, Bhopal
64. Laxmi Murthy, Journalist, Bangalore
65. Shabnam Hashmi
66. Bhavna Sharma