Reducing festival holidays triggers controversy in Bihar, BJP calls it ‘anti-Hindu circular’
The Hindu
The Bihar Education Department’s move to reduce the festival holidays from 23 to 11 during September-December in government schools citing the Right to Education Act (RTE) has triggered a controversy. Twelve such holidays have been cancelled and the change has been implemented for the remaining days of 2023. ‘’Tomorrow it is possible that Sharia will be implemented in Bihar and there will be a ban on celebrating Hindu festivals,” BJP leader and Union Minister Giriraj Singh wrote on X.
The Bihar Education Department’s move to reduce the festival holidays from 23 to 11 during September-December in government schools citing the Right to Education Act (RTE) has triggered a controversy. Twelve such holidays have been cancelled and the change has been implemented for the remaining days of 2023.
BJP leader and Union Minister Giriraj Singh wrote on X (formerly Twitter), “Holidays of Durga Puja, Diwali and Chhath Puja have been cancelled by the education department of Bihar government. Tomorrow it is possible that Sharia will be implemented in Bihar and there will be a ban on celebrating Hindu festivals.”
An Education Department notification on Tuesday evening said that to enhance the quality of the education in the schools, the number of holidays was being reduced as per the Right to Education Act 2009 between September and December 2023.
The holidays for Raksha Bandhan, Teej, Jiutiya, Vishwakarma Puja, Janmashtami, and Guru Nanak Jayanti have been cancelled as well. For Durga Puja, the earlier six-day holiday has been reduced to three.
The department says in the notification that it is necessary to have at least 200 working days in primary schools and 220 days in middle schools but due to elections, examinations, festivals and natural calamities, studies are affected.
It also says that schools do not follow uniformity in closure for festivals as they are open in some districts and closed in others.
Bihar BJP State president Samrat Choudhary termed the decision “politics of appeasement”.
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