Non-stop, 24-hour recitation of Ramcharitmanas is normal among Hindus during festivals or even otherwise. Never ever has it been made part of official duty in any part of the country as the state has always desisted from making religious assignments for government employees compulsory.
But not any longer.
The Uttar Pradesh government is quietly pressing ahead with its religious agenda, whether it is legal or not and whether employees would be agreeable or not.
What may raise eyebrows is an order by Harivansh Kumar, the District Basic Education Officer of Sonbhadra, directing all block education officers to select three competent teachers in their respective blocks and ensure akhand (non-stop) recitation of Ramcharitmanas by them at prominent temples on March 28 and 29, Ashtami (the eighth day of Navratri) and Ram Navami, the day the deity Ram was born.
In his letter, Harivansh Kumar quoted the order which he received from the additional district magistrate of Sonbhadra vide a letter dated March 18, 2023.
This order for teachers goes a step further from the one issued to all district magistrates who were asked to organise temple events during Chaitra Navratri and on Ram Navami. The district magistrates were given Rs 1 lakh each for payment of honorariums to the artistes. Importantly, the order to DMs by the state’s Culture Department did not mention if teachers were to be engaged for the religious activity which is voluntary and faith-driven.
Also read: Uttar Pradesh Police Charges 2 Under NSA Over Burning of ‘Ramcharitmanas’ Copies
Overloaded with little basic amenities
It is not that basic teachers are sitting idle.
They are loaded with work of which teaching is only a small part. Besides teaching, they are required to help in Direct Benefit Transfer. An order issued by UP’s Basic Education Directorate in 2021 head teachers in government basic schools were given the responsibility of feeding correct bank account details of beneficiaries on the ‘Prerna’ portal to facilitate DBT for purchase of school uniforms. The scheme aimed to benefit close to 1.8 crore students enrolled in government-run primary schools.
To this has been added the Public Finance Management System (PFMS), a web-based online application developed by the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India. In government basic schools the portal is used by school management committees to make payments. “It is a cumbersome process involving transfer of money, adding and mapping of vendors and new users, uploading of data on expenditure, GST et cetera. It takes up a lot of time,” said Vinay Kumar Singh, state president, Trained Post-graduate Basic Teachers’ Association.
Singh found the Sonbhadra Basic Education Officer’s order asking teachers to sit in temples and recite Ramcharitmanas wrong as it is a matter of choice whether one voluntarily sits in a temple to read the epic poem or does it at home.
It will be pertinent here to point out the lack of toilet facility in several basic schools where teachers still have to go to fields to urinate. The predicament of female teachers and girl students can only be imagined. All this after UP’s tall claims of having made the state open air defecation free under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. The claim was obviously made without proper verification on the ground.
Now, following a complaint made to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Adityanath by Vinay Kumar Singh, the Director-General of School Education in UP, Vijay Kiran Anand, has directed all Basic Education Officers to expedite construction of separate toilets for male and female teachers, students and the physically challenged. The letter stated that all primary schools have to be provided with all basic amenities by end of March 2024.
Atul Chandra is a former resident editor of The Times of India, Lucknow, and an author.
