Rajasthan Govt School Students To Have Lectures By 'Saints' Every Month

As a part of extracurricular activities, the students of government schools in Rajasthan will now have to listen to speeches by ‘saints’ on the third Saturday of each month. This calendar which has been sent to all district education officers in the state has also outlined programmes for the first, second, fourth and fifth Saturdays of every month.

Programme on Saturdays

For students of around 86,000 government schools across the state, on the first Saturday of a month biographies of well-known people will be read out while on the second Saturday, students will hear stories on ‘inspiration’ and ‘moral values.’ For the fourth and fifth Saturdays, students will have to participate in literary quizzes and plays on moral values will be enacted with patriotic songs, reported Hindustan Times.

All the activities mentioned above are available in the Shivira Panchang, the yearly calendar of the state Directorate of Secondary Education. In addition to that, schools are also directed to hold ‘Bal Sabhas’ either on Saturdays or during the zero hours after morning prayers.

Previous Programmes

Talking to the daily, director of secondary education Nathmal Didel said that this is not the first time that such programmes are going it be held. Reportedly, similar programmes were a part of the 2016-17 academic calendar as well.

He said, “This is irrespective of any religion; it could be a Hindu, Muslim, Sikh or Christian. The saints, who are locally known, respected, and in whom people have faith could share values of life with the students.”

प्रदेश के सरकारी स्कूलों में पढ़ाई कर रहे 85 लाख से अधिक विद्यार्थियों को भारतीय संस्कृति और महापुरुषों की जीवनी से अवगत कराने के लिए शिक्षा विभाग अनूठी पहल #BharatDarshanGallary @VasundharaBJP @v_shrivsatish @chshekharbjp @narendramodi @AmitShah @Avinash_RKhanna @amitmalviya

— Vasudev Devnani (@VasudevDevnani) June 11, 2018

The education department in Rajasthan, earlier in March 2018, had made it compulsory to broadcast Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address in Jhunjhunu, and in 2015, the department had kept copies of Bhagavad Gita at secondary and senior secondary school libraries in the state.

The Logical Indian Take

A school is a place of learning, of inculcating a scientific temper in the minds of the young impressionable wards. Although the Rajasthan government’s decision seems a positive one at first glance, it has the potential of stuffing religion, orthodoxy, and regressive views on the children’s minds. Also, the self-styled babas will get an official pedestal in a place which should ideally value the pursuit of knowledge.