Overview
- The School Education Department issued a formal order on Thursday making the national song, Vande Mataram, mandatory before classes in all government and aided schools, superseding previous instructions.
- District officials told schools to prove compliance by recording morning assemblies on video and submitting reports to the department.
- Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari indicated a May 18 start, yet with summer break now extended to May 31, many schools say they will begin singing the song when classes resume on June 1.
- School heads are seeking clear guidance on sequencing with the National Anthem and the state song, Banglar Mati Banglar Jol, as reports differ on whether the state song remains part of the daily assembly.
- The directive follows the Centre’s push tied to the song’s 150th year and a proposed law to penalise obstruction to its singing, drawing support from BJP leaders and conditional acceptance from the TMC, which stressed that the anthem’s primacy and secular values should not be diluted.