Students of Gujarat schools will answer roll calls with ‘Jai Hind’ or ‘Jai Bharat’ instead of the current ‘yes, sir’ and ‘present, sir’ from 1 January in order to “foster patriotism”, a notification issued Monday stated, reported news agency PTI.
The Gujarat government’s decision is inspired by Sandeep Joshi, a History teacher at a school in Rajasthan’s Jalore district who was honoured in Ahmedabad last Saturday by RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), Indian Express reported. He was awarded for his work in education, including for getting his students to say “Jai Hind” and “Jai Bharat” during roll call.
The notification, issued by the Directorate of Primary Education and Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board (GSHSEB), lays down that students of Class 1-12 in government, grant-in-aid and self-financed schools will have to respond to the attendance call with “Jai Hind” or “Jai Bharat,” starting 1 January.
The objective of the new practice is to “foster patriotism among students right from childhood,” it said.
As per the notification, the decision was taken by the state Education Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama in a review meeting held Monday.
“There is nothing bad in taking inspiration from such a good initiative. This was followed in Gujarat decades ago but somewhere down the line, it was forgotten,” Indian Express quoted Chudasama as saying.
Copies of the notification were sent to the district education officials with instructions to implement it from 1 January.