Move to call teachers 'Rashtra Rishi' sparks row

The decision to address teachers as Rashtra Rishis was taken by State’s Education Minister Archana Chitnis recently and would be implemented from September 13, official sources said on Sunday.

Incurs criticism

However, the move has incurred the wrath of minority leaders who question the logic behind calling educational professionals as “rishi,” a term normally associated with holy persons who have abandoned the world for spiritual path.

Teachers or educationists cannot be equated with rishis like Vishwamitra, Archbishop of Madhya Pradesh Leo Cornelio said.  

At best teachers can be called learned persons and not “rishis,” he said adding: “I failed to understand why the government engages itself in doing all these funny things. It is an insult to the spiritual person.”

Criticising the decision, Chairman of All India Muslim Teohar Committee Ausaf Shahmiri Khurram said it was not acceptable to them.

“Why dont they call them Rashtra Moulvi,” Ausaf Shahmiri Khurram  said.