The Kannada and Culture Department, which had previously prohibited private schools from singing the state anthem during assemblies, stated in a new government decree on Wednesday (21st February) that all schools must do so. This is after the opposition party raised the issue in the state assembly criticizing the state.
Kannada and Culture Minister, Shivaraj Tangadagi described the error as a “printing mistake”.
In a bizarre incident reported on Wednesday (21st February), the government of Karnataka issued an order on 16th February sparking controversy. The order exempted the state’s private schools from singing the state anthem while the rule still applied to all the public schools.
The matter escalated further as the order clearly stated that only the government schools would be mandatorily required to follow the rule of singing the state anthem- ‘Jaya Bharatha Jananiya Thanujathe’, written by Kuvempu during the school assemblies.
However, Kannada and Culture Minister Shivaraj Tangadagi called the mix-up a printing mistake and said that the order would be rectified to direct all the schools including the private ones to sing the state anthem mandatorily during the school assemblies.
This probably happened after Leader of Opposition R Ashoka raised the issue in the State Assembly and questioned the government for issuing such an order. “What was the intention behind this? Do these private schools not come under the purview of the education department? What kind of madness is this? Why are officials issuing such orders…? I explained it to Minister Tangadagi, who said it would be rectified. Why doesn’t he have any hold on the officials,” he was quoted as questioning.
Meanwhile, BJP state president BY Vijayendra opined that the state was trying to insult the poet by issuing such an order. “The state government should apologize,” he demanded.
However, Tangadagi said that it was a small error and that the old order would be rectified. Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao also happened to back the Kannada and Culture Minister saying that in the original note, it was mentioned “all schools”, but while preparing the government order, it had changed, leading to confusion. “It is a printing mistake. We have rectified it,” he added.
Law Minister HK Patil further stated that there was a lapse and that those who prepared the order copy would face consequences. The most recent GO published by the department included all schools, including government, private, aided, and unaided.
