By Sara D Benedicta Josna-  

Bengaluru: An order was issued by the state government to all the schools and pre-university colleges to mandatorily make the students sing the National Anthem every morning. A complaint against three elite schools of the city was received by School Education and Literacy Minister B C Nagesh.

The order issued applies to all the schools (government, aided and unaided) and PU colleges. If there are any issues regarding accommodating the students in one space, then they must be made to sing in their classrooms according to the order.

Earlier, Nagesh had ordered “necessary action” against St. Joseph’s Boys’ High School, Bishop Cotton Boys’ High School and Baldwin Girls’ High School which are in the city’s central business district area based on the complaints that these schools were not making the students sing the National Anthem.

A note was issued by the minister dated on August 11 to the principal secretary of his department mentioning the three schools. The note cited a 2016 order of the Ministry of Home Affairs requiring schools to install “nationalism” among students by making them sing the national anthem.

An order on Wednesday had been issued under Section 133(2) of the Karnataka Education Act, which gives the government the power to issue directions.

Nagesh directed his officials to visit the three schools that were listed to verify the complaints.” Officials submitted a report confirming that the schools weren’t making students sing the National Anthem daily,” Nagesh said, adding that the notices were issued to the schools.

The allegation was denied by St. Joseph’s principal, Fr. Sunil Fernandes. “We have been singing the National Anthem whenever we have a field assembly. As the field assembly isn’t conducted regularly, a recorded version of the National Anthem will be played from the principal’s office and children sing from their classrooms,” he said. “The Deputy Director of Public Instruction (DDPI) visited the school and gave a report asking us to sing the Anthem daily, which we have been doing,” he added. Although no response was extracted from Bishop Cotton and Baldwin schools.

The order issued by the government on Wednesday points to complaints that some Bengaluru schools were not following “the practice of singing the National Anthem every morning that exists in all schools across the state”. Officials say there are many schools where the National Anthem is not being sung daily and some schools have erased singing the National Anthem and replaced it by singing their own school Anthem