J-K pvt school body slams PM's Teachers' Day speech plan

The Private Schools United Front (PSUF) of Kashmir today condemned the government move making it mandatory for students to listen to the Prime Minister's speech on Teachers' Day, terming the move as politicisation of education.
"The directions from Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) is politicisation of education system in Kashmir. Such speeches are usually political in nature and not of any academic value," G N Var, General Secretary of PSUF, said in a statement.
"How can government justify the act of forcing students to listen to political views of a politician?" he asked.
Var said the government diktat goes contrary to the rights of students.

"Every student has a right to accept or decline listening to any speech and if we are living in a democracy then how can government force students to mandatory listen to it," he said.
Var said the Prime Minister belongs to a particular political party whose ideology is not in vogue in Kashmir.
"We have elections in the near future and the particular party is trying hard to gain ground here, so we will never know whether the speech was intended to influence people," he added.
Var said it would be better that students be given an option of choosing whether to listen, or not, to the speech.