Noida school students to be evaluated on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech on Teacher's Day; circular sparks outrage on social media

A school in NOIDA sparked massive outrage on social media on Thursday after an official directive indicated that students will be evaluated on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech on Teacher's Day on September 5.

Schools across the country are preparing to telecast Modi's speech live to students on Friday. The HRD ministry had clarified that attendance was not mandatory.

But government sources have said no private school has objected to following the directives

The circular from the Bal Bharati Public School in NOIDA, stated "The weightage accorded to evaluate will be a question of 02 marks each related to the Prime

Minister's address in all the 05 main papers. All the above directions are to be complied with strictly by the students. For primary school students, the evaluation will be done during the Formative-III Round."

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Meenakshi Lekhi on Thursday had lashed out at government critics over Modi's Teacher's Day speech saying: "Former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's birth anniversary is celebrated as Children's Day in India. If that is not considered politics, then why is Modi's Teacher's Day speech being considered as one?"

The HRD ministry plans to show Modi's speech and subsequent interaction with children across the country via TV and webcast. Students will be asked to stay back till 5 pm on Friday to hear the address.

The West Bengal government has said it will not follow the government order and will go ahead with its own programme for Teachers' Day. The Goa Congress has questioned the "forceful viewing of the telecast."

Though users on Twitter expressed outrage over the circular, some argued it was the decision taken by a single school and not necessarily a directive from the ministry.

User @karthik_s_r said: @narendramodi seems to be something planned by that specific school n circulated. Not from PMO, cannot blame him for everything!

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