New Delhi: Controversy brewed as students and teachers across India are preparing for the first-ever live address/interaction by a PM on Teachers’ Day. This is a practice Narendra Modi followed in Gujarat as chief minister; and is now being transplanted at the national level.
Some Opposition parties, including Congress, Left and AAP, attacked the government for making students a “captive audience”. Some state government, like Jammu and Kashmir and West Bengal, have refused to follow the Centre’s directive, and plan their own Teachers’ Day programmes. Some CMs called the move “dictatorial”. However, HRD minister Smriti Irani has said that attendance at the programme is not compulsory.
Read: Corporation, private schools shun PM’s Teachers Day speech
In an interaction on Thursday with 350 national award-winning teachers, who will be felicitated by President Pranab Mukherjee on Friday, Mr Modi said teaching was not a profession but “jeevan dharm” (a way of life), and urged the teaching community to prepare the new generation for changes taking place across the world.
Read: Teacher's Day celebrations: Confusion reigns on Prime Minister’s speech
On Friday, Mr Modi will spend nearly two hours (3 pm to 4.45 pm) with around 1,000 schoolchildren at Manekshaw Centre at Delhi Cantonment, with virtually every government and private school and adult education centre in India having the option of watching him live on TV, radio and the Internet.
