Respect the autonomy of our schools.
Respect the autonomy of our schools.
The Issue
We, the under-signed, would like to express our strong objection to how the Directorate of Education, Govt of NCT, Delhi, following the nation-wide order from the Ministry of Human Resource Development, compelled all schools into holding their children back, beyond school hours, in order to listen to the live telecast of the PM’s speech, on Teachers’ Day, on the 5th of Sept, 2014.
In their circular No.DE/15/Act-1/2014/25983-25994, dated 29.8.’14, points no 10., 11. and 12. state that
· 10. Before start of the programme, all heads of the school shall submit the details of number of students viewing the programme on the online module available at the link School Plant – PM’s live Address to School Children after logging in the website of Directorate of Education i.e. www.edudel.nic.in
· 11. All Districts of DDEs/Eos/DEOs will visit the schools during this time falling in their jurisdiction to monitor and ensure that directions are being complied with in letter and spirit.
· 12. All above directions are to be complied with strictly by HOS of Govt/Govt. Aided/Unaided/MCDs/NDMS/Cantonment Board of Schools. Any laxity in the arrangements shall be viewed seriously.
Why was this made mandatory? Why was the session to be monitored and verified by inspections? If this event was for the children, surely their needs should have been paramount. This should have been scheduled during their normal school hours, and the Prime Minister should have adjusted his schedule accordingly.
In a country, where over half the schools do not have basic infrastructure and facilities, like water, toilets or even complete buildings, was it really worth spending so much of time and resources on making these arrangements?
The coercive nature of the circular goes against our notions of democratic rights, civil liberties, and respect for the child. Therefore we would like to register our protest against such high-handed behavior on the part of the DoE in Delhi and by the Ministry of Human Resources Development, all over the country
The Issue
We, the under-signed, would like to express our strong objection to how the Directorate of Education, Govt of NCT, Delhi, following the nation-wide order from the Ministry of Human Resource Development, compelled all schools into holding their children back, beyond school hours, in order to listen to the live telecast of the PM’s speech, on Teachers’ Day, on the 5th of Sept, 2014.
In their circular No.DE/15/Act-1/2014/25983-25994, dated 29.8.’14, points no 10., 11. and 12. state that
· 10. Before start of the programme, all heads of the school shall submit the details of number of students viewing the programme on the online module available at the link School Plant – PM’s live Address to School Children after logging in the website of Directorate of Education i.e. www.edudel.nic.in
· 11. All Districts of DDEs/Eos/DEOs will visit the schools during this time falling in their jurisdiction to monitor and ensure that directions are being complied with in letter and spirit.
· 12. All above directions are to be complied with strictly by HOS of Govt/Govt. Aided/Unaided/MCDs/NDMS/Cantonment Board of Schools. Any laxity in the arrangements shall be viewed seriously.
Why was this made mandatory? Why was the session to be monitored and verified by inspections? If this event was for the children, surely their needs should have been paramount. This should have been scheduled during their normal school hours, and the Prime Minister should have adjusted his schedule accordingly.
In a country, where over half the schools do not have basic infrastructure and facilities, like water, toilets or even complete buildings, was it really worth spending so much of time and resources on making these arrangements?
The coercive nature of the circular goes against our notions of democratic rights, civil liberties, and respect for the child. Therefore we would like to register our protest against such high-handed behavior on the part of the DoE in Delhi and by the Ministry of Human Resources Development, all over the country
Petition Closed
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Petition created on 9 September 2014