Statement about PM's Teacher's Day Address

We 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.

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 2^nd 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.

The Prime Minister is taking over the day, which belongs to the teaching community and pushing them off stage. This attempt to hegemonize social spaces needs to be condemned and resisted. The Prime Minister is not the Teacher-in-Chief of the country and he should leave the children alone.

We demand that the orders issued in this regard be withdrawn immediately and the solemnity and gaity of the day be left untouched.

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