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Narendra Modi's Teacher's Day address: Delhi school to quiz students on speech in upcoming exams

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The HRD Ministry, for Teacher's Day, issued an order asking schools to make arrangements to screen the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address and have students listen to it. However, one school, Bal Bharti Public School in Noida, took this directive several steps further and decided to quiz the students on the prime minister's speech, making it a component of their upcoming exams.

A circular issued by the school stated, "... for Classes III-XII, the key points of the Prime Minister's address are to be noted and learnt for the school to evaluate the same during Summative-I. The weightage accorded to evaluate will be a question of 02 marks each related to the Prime Minister's address will be in all 05 main papers."

The school's Prinicipal seemingly found no fault with including the Prime Minister's speech in the student's curriculum.

Whatever be the content of Modi's speech, it's educational merits are questionable.

Modi's interaction with school students and his address to them will be live streamed through web channels of Doordarshan, The Prime Minister's Office and the HRD ministry. It will also be broadcast live on Doordarshan channels as well as on the radio. Arrangements are also being made for the prime minister would also take questions from some students spread across the country through a video-conference facility.

The prime Minister's address was already courting controvery for implying that it was compulsory for all students to listen to it. The HRD Ministry had issued an order asking every school in the country to make arrangements for the screening of the address. The Ministry has also asked schools in the states to prepare a student attendance report after the PM's interaction with the students is over.  

Following this, the Directorate of Education (DoE) of Delhi government has issued a notification directing all private as well as Government Schools to organise a broadcast of the Prime Minister's address. It also stated that, "Any laxity in the arrangements shall be viewed seriously." 

The move was slammed by several Congress leaders as well as allies of BJP, DMK and PMK. Education Ministers of Assam and Kerala issued statements saying that it was not manadatory for students to listen to the address.

Maharashtra Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan criticised Narendra Modi for creating an autocracy.

After much controversy, HRD Minister Smriti Irani addressed the issue and stated that the listening to the Prime Minister's address was a voluntary exercise.

States like West Bengal voiced dissent over the entire exercise with its Education Minister Partha Chatterjee saying they have little time in which to make the necessary arrangements for it. The scheduled timing of the prime minister's speech, from 3 PM to 4.45 PM has also come under attack from parties like Congress. Reacting sharply, Irani said, "If the prime minister of a free India does not have the freedom to interact with students, then it is ridiculous."

It should be clear to the HRD Minister that this controversy is less about the freedom of Modi and more about the freedom of the students that he is addressing. Just as the Prime Minister is indeed free to address the students, the students should be free to not listen to it, much less have to study it for an exam.

With PTI inputs.

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