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All Chhattisgarh Govt Schools Will Now Have To Put Up Photos Of President, PM And The CM

All for "a better education environment".
File photo of a classroom in a Delhi school.
Hindustan Times via Getty Images
File photo of a classroom in a Delhi school.

Days after the Madhya Pradesh government directed all government schools to display portraits of President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on their premises, the Chhattisgarh government has come up with a similar rule.

All government schools will now have to put up photos of PM, President and the CM by June 30, reports Indian Express. According to the report, the directive has been issued to build "a better environment for education".

The opposition is obviously not very happy with the move.

A senior leader of Chhattisgarh Janata Congress told IE this is being done keeping in mind the Assembly elections that is to be held in the state in 16 months.

"This is a complete waste of public money for personal benefit," another senior Congress leader added.

Education Secretary Vikas Sheel, however, says that the photos will be installed only to raise awareness. "There used to be a time when children, if asked the name of the Prime Minister, would say 'Indira Gandhi'. That is all we want to change," he said.

The government has also asked all primary schools to install mirrors, "42 x 18" inches in size, at an appropriate place and keep a comb and a nail-cutter in their premises. This is to ensure children stay clean.

Earlier, when Madhya Pradesh government schools were instructed to follow a similar order, Deepak Joshi, minister of state for school education had said, "It is a custom to keep portraits of leaders on display so that we remember their role and teach students about their personalities."

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.