The CPI(M) fears that the direction of the HRD Ministry to all schools that all students should hear Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Teachers’ Day address on Friday is designed to indoctrinate young minds.
Terming the move unprecedented, the CPI(M) said such an instruction has never been issued in independent India — not even for the addresses to the nation by the President and the Prime Minister.
“Clearly, the RSS/BJP seek to use this occasion for the indoctrination of young minds,” the party’s Polit Bureau said in statement.
It said students should ideally be exposed to all ideas, preparing them to make informed choices later in their lives.
The party is none too happy with HRD Minister Smriti Irani’s clarification that the instruction is not compulsory for schools to follow. “However, it nevertheless pressurises the school administration and principals to follow,” it said.
Pressure on schools“This is so because most schools in the country are either government schools or government subsidised aided schools,” the statement added.
The Left party said though education was placed under the concurrent list in during Emergency, the responsibility for primary education remains with the States.
“Some State governments have therefore already conveyed their objection, as this violates the federal structure,” it added.