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The deputy director of pre-university education in Bengaluru Rural district had coercively warned principals of “action” if their colleges fail to meet the number of students stipulated in his circular.
After drawing sharp flak from the Opposition, Karnataka’s pre-university education department has withdrawn its directive that all college students must be ferried to a government programme to be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi near Bengaluru. In a clearly coercive move, the now-withdrawn circular, the deputy director of pre-university (PU) education in Bengaluru Rural district on Tuesday warned of action against principals of colleges that fail to meet the number of students stipulated for each of them.
The circular stated, “This is as per directions of the preparatory meeting held on November 2. Students will have to be transported in pre-arranged buses and taken to the venue and back. Action will be taken if there is any failure to comply with the order.”
Barely two days from now, Modi is scheduled to inaugurate Terminal 2 of Kempegowda International Airport and a 108-foot bronze statue of Kempegowda, who was a chieftain under the Vijayanagara empire, at Devanahalli will be unveiled, on November 11.
Opposition leader Siddaramaiah said, “The education department under this BJP government has been goofing up on one issue or the other. People are not attending BJP’s meetings and functions and hence it is now trying to exploit school and college students. This move of the government is condemnable.’’
‘Why should students be made to sit under the sun’
Former CM and JDS leader HD Kumaraswamy said, “Why issue such a circular in the first place and why cancel it? Why should students be made to sit under the sun at a public function to listen to the PM’s speech.’’
It was this backlash from various quarters, the Education Department got into a damage-control mode and withdrew the controversial order.
When contacted, Primary Education Minister B C Nagesh told the media, “The DDPI has withdrawn the circular”. He added that he has instructed the Principal Secretary to take action against the “errant” officer. Another officer, not admitting to responding to public criticism, a department official told the Indian Express that the latest decision was taken due to a lack of security clearance for the original plan. “The order to arrange buses for PU students was sent so that students can witness the inauguration by PM Modi. Not just PU students, the order also included ITI, diploma and degree students. Since there is no security clearance for it, the PU department decided to withdraw the order immediately,” the official said.
Reportedly, the directions to principals of all colleges to ferry students were based on the proceedings of a meeting attended by the principals of all government, aided and unaided colleges on November 2, the circular said. “The appointed nodal officers for buses and principals of all colleges are directed to safely bring the stipulated number of students to the programme and then take them back. Failing which, principals of the colleges will be held responsible….,” the circular read. On November 5, a programme organised to launch developmental works in Byndoor, Udupi, courted controversy as the school education department directed all teachers from the Byndoor educational zone to attend it.
Some other official sources, who did not wished to be named, were unconvinced about the sincerity of the government in withdrawing the circular. “Has the education minister denied that they held a crowd-mobilising meeting on November 2? Have the buses been cancelled? Have they penalised the persons who were arranging the buses?
June 2022, five months ago, 22 schools had been “ordered to be shut
Five months ago, Modi’s presence in the city and his participation in “events” had led the BJP-led state education ministry to order the shutting down of higher education institutions and schools located in the vicinity of his travel route have been ordered shut due to “security reasons”. The circular issued then had enlisted 22 schools that have been ordered to be closed for a day in view of the same. These schools have been asked to work on any holiday to compensate for the hours missed. This had also caused serious comment.
Dr CN Ashwath Narayan, Minister for Higher Education, said, a government order to this effect has been issued on Saturday. Later, a circular was issued by the department of public instruction, asking all government, aided and unaided schools from Kengeri Upanagara to Kommaghatta to remain shut. Among the colleges, Dr Ashwath Narayan said this will be applicable to higher educational institutions in the vicinity of IISc, Goraguntepalya, CMTI, Outer Ring Road, Dr Rajkumar Memorial flyover, Laggere bridge, Nayandahalli, Mysuru Road R.V.college, Nagarabavi, Sumanahalli flyover, MEI junction, Govardhan Talkies, Yashawantapura, and Jakkuru Aerodrome route, he has stated.
January 2022, school kids forced to raise ‘Hail Modi, Yogi’ slogans at Siddhartha Nagar, UP
Beginning 2022, a primary school in the Sohratgarh Block of Siddhartha Nagar district held an event where school children were allegedly made to raise slogans, hailing Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, by their principal and teachers on Republic Day. Authorities ordered a “probe” into the incident that became public when a teacher posted a Video of the event on social media. In this video, students after singing the national anthem are seen raising slogans in the name of freedom fighters as well as of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Yogi Adityanath on the directions of teachers, violating the model code of conduct currently in place in the state. District Magistrate, Siddhartha Nagar, Deepak Meena, who told reporters that he came to know about the video through social media, also said, ““We have taken cognisance of the matter and directed the BSA (Basic Shiksha Adhikari) to investigate it. Action will be taken against whosoever is found guilty,” he said. Nothing is known of the outcome of this probe.
Gujarat 2019
Three years back, and three months into the Modi 2.0 government, the Ahmedabad district education department has issued a circular to the principals of schools falling under Ahmedabad (Rural) areas, instructing them to organise special lectures, debates, essay and elocution competitions, group discussions and other similar exercises on the subject of the central government’s decision regarding Article 370 in J&K. The occasion? Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday on September 17.
“It [Articles 370 and 35A] touches [the] subject of social sciences in secondary and higher secondary education. Therefore, it is [a] subject of education and our prime minister’s birthday is on September 17. So, all the schools should conduct programmes like – elocution competition, debate competition, group discussion and essay competition along with other competitions in the morning assembly session. Experts can provide knowledge so that the students get to understand Article 370 and Article 35A,” reads the circular. The Wire had reported on this.
The circular also states that the Modi government’s move to read down Article 370 has created “a global identity of the nation”, despite the fact that the move remains under a constitutional channel in the Supreme Court of India. “This is to inform you that the Indian parliament has taken an excellent and people-oriented decision which has received unprecedented welcome,” it reads.
The state education department’s plan of talking about Article 370 in schools on Modi’s birthday implicitly aims to register in the minds of students the act as one which spells the Modi government’s success. Speaking to The Wire then, Rakesh R. Vyas, district education officer of Ahmedabad (Rural) said, “The decision to discuss Article 370 in schools was taken because it was an act that cannot be taken by a state government or municipal corporations, only the Central government could have done it. So it was decided that the prime minister’s birthday would be the perfect day on which to organise it [the discussions on the J&K move].”
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