Soon, singing State anthem to be made compulsory in all schools

Primary and Secondary Education Department to make singing State anthem compulsory There have been complaints that English medium schools conveniently ignored State anthem The government will also make teaching Kannada mandatory even in ICSE/CBSE schools

Now, singing state anthem will be made compulsory in all the schools, not just government schools. Following complaints by some parents that their children were not aware of the State anthem (Nadageethe), the primary and secondary education department is contemplating to make 'Nadageethe' compulsory in schools.

In fact, the state anthem 'Jaya Bharata Jananiya Tanujate' is sung in the morning assembly in government schools alone. But the English medium schools including CBSE/ICSE and also minority schools have conveniently ignored the state anthem and the students are made to sing only the national anthem.

However, a few parents have reportedly complained to the Education department officials that their children were ignorant about the state anthem and they held schools responsible for it. "Children should be aware of the state anthem that reflects the state, its history and culture. But the schools too are not really bothered about having the state anthem. This is not a healthy trend," parents complained to Kannada Prabha.

Considering this, the primary and secondary education department is contemplating to make the state anthem penned by 'Rashtrakavi' Kuvempu mandatory during morning assembly in schools, reports Kannada Prabha. 

Also, schools with CBSE/SCSE syllabus will face action from the state government if they fail to teach Kannada to students. The state government has issued a circular making Kannada compulsory in these schools. The circular also covers minority schools - Urdu, Tamil and Telugu schools.

Primary Education Minister Tanveer Sait told mediapersons that a circular had been issued to teach English from class 1 in government schools and Kannada in all English medium schools from this current academic year. To effectively implement the order, the department has trained 5,400 English teachers in 4,100 cluster level schools, reports Kannada Prabha quoting Tanveer Sait.