PM's idea of guru utsav and organising an online chat with students has drawn criticism
BJP government was criticised for trying to Sanskritise the celebrations and earn mileage through these programmes. (Photo: DC)
Chennai: The idea of rechristening Teacher’s Day as Guru Utsav and organising an online chat with students by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 5 has drawn criticism from teachers, academicians and the school education department in Tamil Nadu.
They say that the BJP government has been trying to Sanskritise the celebrations and earn mileage through these programmes.
Speaking to DC, Ms V. Sudaroli, school teacher and organiser of the ‘Kulandhaigalai Kondatuvom’ (Let’s celebrate children) forum, said that there was no need to rename Teacher’s Day as Guru Utsav.
“This word reflects the ‘gurukula’ method of teaching. Now, we are in a century where we have to break the clichéd hierarchies and approach children in a way that they like to study. We have no clue too on how this brief online interaction with the PM would empower the students,” she said.
Stating that the BJP government had been trying its best to use every opportunity to spread Hindutva ideas, S. Arumainathan, president of the Tamil Nadu Students-Parents Welfare Association, said,
“Renaming Teacher’s Day and chatting with students online will not bring about any great change in children’s education. Instead, the Prime Minister could improve the Right to Education Act, ensure that unbiased history lessons are taught to students and bring amendments to put an end to the privatisation of education.”
He thought that such programmes were the BJP government’s attempts at raking in publicity. Sources in the school education department said that the Tamil Nadu government would go ahead and celebrate Teacher’s Day in the usual way.
“We give away awards to the best teachers and honour them. We will carry on with the celebration as has been the norm all these years,” sources said.
( Source : dc )
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