KOCHI: Though the State Government had notified that it was not mandatory to air Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech in schools, the majority of schools in the district aired the PM’s speech on Teacher’s Day.
The CBSE Schools Association had issued a directive to the schools under the Board to ensure that students are exposed to the Prime Minister’s interaction with children on the Teacher’s Day.The KVs broadcast the PM’s speech as per the directive issued by the HRD Ministry, and even changed the school timing to 10.30 am to 5 pm. The PM’s speech was aired between 3 pm to 4.45 pm. However, some of the parents who were not interested in sending their wards to school said that children of lower primary classes need not listen to the speech as it would not bring them any benefit.
“It has been brought to our notice that most of the schools had aired the programme, and that the students themselves were interested in listening to the Prime Minister’s speech. We felt that there was no harm in making students listen to the PM’s speech. It will be beneficial for them. We have launched an online survey at all schools under the Department to find out how many children - boys and girls - had listened to the speech. Their feedback has also been sought,” said Ernakulam AEO Sreekala.
A student of a school functioning in the district said that she found the experience overwhelming.
“The Prime Minister of India was addressing the students, and we did not want to miss that experience. His focus on cleanliness and the need to construct more toilets in schools was very impressive,” she said. Since many students in government schools could not understand the language, a facility to record the speech and translate it was made available. The Government GHSS plans to present the translated speech another day.