The essay competition to mark ‘Good Governance Day’ for schools affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education may be voluntary, but teachers are concerned that it will put pressure on students on a holiday, as entries will be accepted only on Christmas day.
Students may have to work on December 25, if they want to win Rs. 2,000 in the contest. An earlier announcement giving students the option to submit their essays on Christmas or Christmas Eve has been superseded by a fresh circular issued on Monday, stating that the contest — Expression Series — will be organised on December 25.
Although schools will be closed for Christmas, entries will be accepted online only on December 25, the birthday of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and educationist Madan Mohan Malaviya.
Nirmalini, Principal of Carmel Convent School —a Christian institution here — said the circular would inconvenience students. “CBSE should think about such events in advance and do it properly rather than taxing children. Students will have to run around to find cyber cafés to participate and many of them will be busy with services in church,” she told The Hindu .
The parent of a Delhi school student said: “The school has been shut since 19th. Parents are usually intimated by sms, but we haven’t received any instructions yet on the contest. For us Christmas is a day for the family and my son cannot participate.”
The topics for the contest will be announced on December 24 and the entries must be submitted online or through WhatsApp on December 25 between 9.00 a.m. and 5.00 p.m.; 36 top entries in each of the three categories will get a prize of Rs. 2,000 each. Many schools have not yet received the circular.
“We get notices from CBSE every week to participate in many programmes, which are optional. We usually participate in one out of ten. We have not received any notice yet and we’ll just skip it as we are not able to help students,” Sajeetha Barathi, Principal of The Titan School near Hosur Cattle Farm, Tamil Nadu said.