Raj schools to mark Art 370 move, Savarkar’s birthday
The abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu & Kashmir, the birthdays of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and Maharana Pratap, and the consecration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya –– these are among the new celebration days for state schools declared by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Rajasthan government.
The state government’s decision was made public on Sunday after the secondary school education department in Bikaner published the annual calendar of schools. The Opposition called the move “politicisation of education”.
The new calendar, seen by HT, called for August 5, the day Article 370 was revoked in Jammu & Kashmir, to be celebrated as “Swarnamukut Diwas” across state government schools.
Savarkar Jayanti will be celebrated on his birthday on May 28, Maharana Pratap Jayanti will be marked on May 29, and Surya Saptami will be celebrated on February 4, the calendar added.
Earlier, in the annual calendar of primary school education published on July 9, the department added the celebration of the Ram Temple consecration on January 22.
“No holidays were removed in the list. But, we declared some celebratory days... The holidays remained the same, which is 152, as per the given standard,” said director of the secondary education department, Ashish Modi.
The department did not clarify how the events will be celebrated across schools, but directions were issued to all the officials of the department by Ashish Modi.
Soon after taking charge of the department, education minister Madan Dilawar said on February 26, “Savarkar’s role in the freedom struggle was wrongly written in the history so far. They have glorified the role of Mughal emperor Akbar who was a rapist. They have also distorted the character of Maharana Pratap.”
The BJP, which took power in the state last December, defended the decision.
“The Congress has always been doing politics of appeasement. The BJP government will make sure the students learn the lives and roles of great leaders such as Savarkar and Maharana Pratap. They should get a space in the education sector always as they will inspire the students,” said BJP spokesperson Mukesh Pareek.
The Congress condemned the move.
“This is a sheer move to politicise school education in line with their own Hindutva propaganda. What will our students learn? The education minister doesn’t have any idea on how to develop the sector and therefore, he is trying to mislead the people instead of adding any further value to the system,” said Congress spokesperson Swarnim Chaturvedi.
A senior official from the secondary education department said the calendar was planned to increase teaching days in the school despite not affecting the holidays. “Our main aim was to get the students, particularly in rural areas, take interest in the school space and participate in activities through education,” the official added.
“The No Bag Days were used to be marked on every Saturday which was reduced to only on alternative Saturdays. It helped us increasing the number of teaching days from 230 to about 272,” said Modi. He underlined that the calendar also retained several other activities such as Independence Day, Republic Day, and Gandhi Jayanti as holidays.