‘Present Sir/Mam’ to be replaced with ‘Jai Hind’ during roll call in Madhya Pradesh

To answer the roll-call, students in Madhya Pradesh will no longer say “Yes, ma’am” or “Yes, Sir” as the government has made it mandatory for them to reply with a “Jai Hind” instead. This step, the state education board said, is to instill a sense of patriotism among the students. Earlier in November 2017, Madhya Pradesh School Education Minister Vijay Shah had said that answering roll-calls with “Yes, Sir or Yes, Ma’am” does not foster patriotism.

He had said that the step would be enforced in all 1.22 lakh government schools, and is optional for private schools in the state. An advisory in this regard would also be issued to all private schools, he added.The School Education Department of Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led BJP government issued an order on Tuesday, citing that presently students in schools presently answer their rolls calls with different words.

The order signed by Pramod Singh, the deputy secretary of School Education Department added that in order to infuse the spirit of patriotism among school students it has been decided by the state government that students will have to answer their roll calls/attendance calls in the class by saying ‘Jai Hind.’ On Wednesday, the MP minister of state for school education Deepak Joshi justified the state government’s move of introducing in government schools across the state a new system of Jai Hind to answer rolls calls. “What’s the harm in making it compulsory as its going to instill spirit of patriotism among the school going children. The move should be taken positively by all sections of the society,” said Joshi.

The new system of Jai Hind as answer to roll calls will become effective from July 1, once the schools re-open after the summer vacations.