The Gujarat government on Monday has directed all the school in the state to ensure that the students answer the roll calls with ‘Jai Hind’ or ‘Jai Bharat’ instead of ‘present’ or ‘yes’ from January 1.
The objective of this move is to inculcate the feeling of nationalism into students from a young age, the circular issued by the Directorate of Primary Education and Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board stated.
“In order to instil nationalism from a young age, it is directed that students of all schools, government, grant-in-aid as well as private, should say ‘Jai Bharat’ or ‘Jai Hind’, instead of ‘Yes sir’ or ‘Present sir’ across the state from January 1, 2019. Ensure this is followed across all schools” it read.
ALSO READ: Veteran actor Kader Khan passes away
The notification also states that the decision was taken by the state Education Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama.
According to news reports, the inspiration for this game from Sandeep Joshi, a History teacher in Rajasthan who was rewarded by the ABVP at their national conference for his contribution to the education sector. One of the ideas that he shared at the conference was to replace ‘Yes Sir’ with ‘Jai Hind’ or ‘Jai Bharat’.
In May 2018, the Madhya Pradesh government, then led by Shivraj Singh Chouhan, had also issued a similar notice and had asked school students to say ‘Jai Hind’ instead of ‘Yes Sir’ or ‘Yes Ma’am’ to answer their roll-call.