Gujarat: Beginning January 1, Students to Say ‘Jai Hind’, ‘Jai Bharat’ to Mark Presence in School

The idea is to give the kids a sense of nationalism.

Ahmedabad: Students of Gujarat schools will answer roll calls with ‘Jai Hind’ or ‘Jai Bharat’ instead of the prevalent ‘Yes sir’ or ‘Present sir’ from January 1, a government notification said. The idea behind the decision was to foster patriotism, it said.

The notification, issued by the Directorate of Primary Education and Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board (GSHSEB), lays down that students of Class 1-12 in government, grant-in-aid and self-financed schools will have to respond to the attendance call with ‘Jai Hind’ or ‘Jai Bharat.’

As per the notification, the decision was taken by the state Education Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama in a review meeting held on Monday. Copies of the notification were sent to the district education officials with instructions to implement it from January 1.

Chudasama said, “A teacher from Rajasthan, who was rewarded by the ABVP for his contribution to the education sector, shared some of his ideas during the ABVP’s national convention. One of the ideas was to replace ‘Yes Sir’ with ‘Jai Hind’ or ‘Jai Bharat’. It would definitely go a long way in inculcating the spirit of nationalism.”

The teacher, Sandeep Joshi, said, “A child goes through school saying ‘Yes Sir’ or ‘Present Sir’ thousands of times over and over again. If we replace this with ‘Jai Hind’ or ‘Jai Bharat’, the student will use these words instead and understand the true meaning of nationalism.”

In May, 2018, the Madhya Pradesh government, then led by Shivraj Singh Chouhan, had asked school students to say ‘Jai Hind’ instead of ‘Yes Sir’ or ‘Yes Ma’am’ to answer their roll-call. The state government issued an order making it mandatory for school students to reply with a ‘Jai Hind’ to roll-call. The new norm was to be implemented at all state-run schools from the new academic session.

The Government Order read, “It has now been made compulsory for all 1.22 lakh government schools in the state to answer attendance roll calls by saying Jai Hind instead of yes sir/ma’am. This is the decision taken by state government to instil patriotism among students.” The order was issued after the approval from the Chief Minister.