Morning prayer now mandatory for students, staff in Bihar schools
(Sourced from PTI)
The Bihar government has made it mandatory for students and staff of schools run by it to hold morning prayers in which state songs will be crooned using loudspeakers to instill discipline and punctuality among them. An order to this effect has been issued by Principal Secretary of Education Department RK Mahajan to all the District Education Officers (DEOs) and District Programme Officers (DPOs).
The order issued on August 9 instructs to ensure holding of morning prayer with immediate effect in over 76,000 government schools and government-aided ones. Mahajan said the purpose behind the exercise is to promote discipline and punctuality among the students and the staff in schools.
"It has been decided to hold 'Chetna Satra/Prarthna Sabha' in every school (primary, middle, senior secondary) of the state using loudspeakers for qualitative running of the schools," the letter issued by Mahajan said. All schools would have to chant prayers like "Meri Raftar Pe Suraj Ki Kiran Naaz Kare" and "Tu Hi Ram Hai, Tu Rahim Hai", which are part of Bihar gaans (songs).
Principal, teachers, and students of the school will have to be present during morning assembly, the order said. It also said that lessons on moral values, inspiring stories and anecdotes and newspaper reading should also be included during "Chetna Satra/Prarthna Sabha". Also, the last period of the schools will be dedicated to holding sports and co-curricular activities, the letter said.
DEOs have been instructed to ask all the principals to arrange for a loudspeaker set or buy if they don't have one. Schools having out-of-order loudspeaker sets must get them repaired. Principals can buy loudspeaker sets from the school development fund/students fund, Mahajan said. Each school will get Rs. 12,500-1,00,000 fund in the 2018-19 fiscal depending on the number of students enrolled, he added.
On the use of loudspeakers during morning prayers at schools, Mahajan said that it has been made mandatory so that the students, who reside in the school's vicinity, know about the commencement of classes and attend in time.
