Govt school kids tune in, give Modi patient hearing

Pvt schools don't insist on children viewing telecast

While students of many government schools were made to brave the heat to watch the live telecast of the President and Prime Minister’s addresses, some private schools chose to appoint a few teachers and students to view the programme as a token gesture on Friday.

The government schools outshone private institutions in following the orders of the Ministry of Human Resource and Development (MHRD).

While in most of the government schools the attendance was above average on the day, a few private institutes did not make it mandatory for students to come to the school and attend the programme.

“Students were not given any specific instructions to come to school today. It was kind of voluntary for them to attend the programme,” said a teacher of a private school in north Delhi.

As many as 1,700 students, of the total strength of 1,804 , attended the programme, said a teacher of the Rajakiya Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya No 2 in Shakarpur. “Teachers and students watched both the programmes,” he added.

But there were some government schools where screens were put up in the grounds to accommodate the huge number of students at one place. “We had set up projectors in the ground since we didn’t have a hall big enough to accommodate all the students under one roof,” said a teacher of a government school in east Delhi.

When the government school authorities were asked about exposing students to hot weather conditions for almost three hours, the teacher said, “It wasn’t that hot today. The weather was pleasant. So children did not have any problem.”

“We also sat with them the whole time,” he added.

Also, some of the private schools were busy conducting their own workshop on the day instead of watching the address.

“We had arranged distinguished speakers from across the globe long before the MHRD  issued a circular. We had no choice but to continue with the workshop,” said a teacher of a private school in north Delhi.

A few other private institutes deployed some teachers to attend the PM’s interaction with kids at Manekshaw Hall and President’s special class at Sarvodaya Vidyalaya President Estate as a token gesture.

“We have been asked to attend the programme so that we can give a presentation to other teachers on Monday,” said a teacher of a private school.

The MHRD did not make it clear in the circular that it was mandatory for schools to watch the event live but it did say that it would seek a report afterwards.