Now, students need to sing national anthem during morning
assembly compulsorily as per the Madras High Court. There was a petition
regarding the same and decision was taken by Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and
Justice MM Sundresh.
A PIL was filed by ex-service man N Selvathirumal, seeking a directive by authorities to make it mandatory for all private schools in the state to sing the national anthem during the assembly, so, the bench provided the decision stating that private schools must follow such singing of national anthem as part of their curriculum.
Central and State Departments of Secondary Education and the Union Human Resources Department were directed by the bench to make efforts to verify if the national anthem was being sung in all private schools in the state.
N Selvathirumal said that national anthem was being sung in various private schools in Tamil Nadu while it was sung in central government schools, such as the Kendriya Vidyalaya, and all the state government schools daily during the morning assembly.
The petitioner submitted that a citizen should have adequate knowledge of the national anthem and the national flag.
He further added that he was informed that the Government of India has released an advisory for all the schools that the day's work may start with with community singing of the national anthem and adequate provisions should be made in the programmes for popularising the singing of the anthem and promoting respect for the national flag.
CBSE said that a circular was issued to schools on November 10th, 2015 stating that the second descriptor out of the 10 principles entails singing of national anthem with decorum, where as the first one is to abide by constitution and respect its ideals and institutions, the National Flag and National Anthem in compliance of the direction given by the Hon'ble High Court of Calcutta on 22.09.2014. It is notified that the schools must strictly comply the orders.
The bench added that we are expecting schools to mandatorily follow the Constitution of India, the respect for the National Anthem and the National Flag, the circular issued by the CBSE and other authorities by singing national anthem.