‘Pressure from schools after note on 100% participation in rashtragaan’

Gurgaon: Parents have alleged pressure by several schools in the city, including some frontline ones, to participate in the 75th Independence Day celebrations by recording and uploading their renditions of the national anthem.
The insistence by schools for full participation follows a circular from Haryana’s directorate of school education in a circular dated August 10, directing all officers at the district, block and cluster levels to ensure “100% participation of stakeholders”.
It defined stakeholders as government, government-aided and private schools and all students, parents and other family members, and teaching and non-teaching staff. “Every stakeholder has to sing and record the national anthem individually,” the circular added.
The tone was different from the CBSE circular on August 3, which stated, “All students of all ages, their parents and other family members, teaching and non-teaching staff, and their family members must be informed about the activity and requested for their energetic participation. All participants may be advised to visit the website rashtragaan.in and self-record their rendition of the national anthem and upload. Participants can choose their convenient date and time till 14th August 2021 to record and upload the rendition of the national anthem.”
Parents of students at a well-known school in Sushant Lok said they had received several reminders about recording and uploading the national anthem by August 14. “In their written communication, the school has not made it explicit that parents have to mandatorily participate. But the tone they are using and the way they are chasing students and their parents is worrisome. Is it an Independence Day programme or some sort of competition among schools to record highest participation?” asked a parent, who asked not to be named.
The school’s vice-principal told TOI, “A circular came from the education ministry and we honoured it by communicating it to students and parents. We are also honouring individual choice. Parents must understand that reminders are not meant to put pressure on them.”
Students have also been asked to fill up Google forms mentioning the number of people in their families and those who are taking part in the event. “No parent will have a problem if children participate in school events. In fact, most parents feel good when kids take part in such activities, especially now when they are in their houses, attending online classes,” said Pradeep Rawat, co-founder of a parents’ grouping called Gurgaon Parents’ Association. “But asking parents to do this is out of the ordinary. I have been talking to a lot of parents and most of them find this strange.”
Some parents said the pressure to participate has made them worry about the consequences of not doing so. Principals of several schools, however, said this was a fun activity and needed to be taken in the right spirit. “It’s an activity meant to bring schools, students and their parents closer. We are encouraging students to be part of it and it will be great if their parents can join in as well. But there is no compulsion and we have specified that it is a matter of one’s choice,” said Salwan Public School principal Rashmi Malik.
Asked about the directive to ensure “100%” participation, a senior education department official told TOI, “We don’t want a lack of communication or awareness about the initiative to be a reason for low participation. We want that everyone participates. Having said that, nobody can be and should be pressured.”