A petition has been filed in the Madras High Court seeking a direction to the authorities to make it mandatory for all private schools in the State to either play or sing the national anthem during at the assembly.
Petitioner N. Selvathirumal of Ambattur in his petition also sought to make it mandatory for these schools to facilitate playing or singing the national anthem when they apply for affiliation to the Centre Board for School Education (CBSE).
While Kendriya Vidyalayas in the State have made their students sing the national anthem, the practice was not being followed in certain private schools affiliated to the CBSE in the State, he said.
When the petition came up for hearing on Friday, a Division Bench comprising Justices T.S. Sivagnanam and K. Ravichandra Baabu directed impleading of schools which were neither teaching nor facilitating their students to sing the national anthem and adjourned the matter after two weeks.
The petitioner also submitted that his representations to the CBSE authorities seeking to make it mandatory had not been addressed.
