Private schools reopen after vacation to ‘Vande Mataram’ strain

Kolkata: Several private schools in and around the city reopened on Monday, introducing ‘Vande Mataram’—the national song—into their morning assemblies.On the day the order making ‘Vande Mataram’ compulsory for state-run schools was issued, chief minister Suvendu Adhikari had requested that private schools also introduce the national song in their morning assemblies.Some schools had already shared the lyrics of the song, while others distributed printouts to children standing in queues for the morning assembly on Monday.Terence John, director of education and development for the Julien Day Group of Schools, stated that their schools are reopening on Tuesday and will introduce the national song in their morning assemblies. “We have already included the song. Initially, a group of students was trained, and the music teachers will lead it in the assembly. Because it is a tough song—unlike our national anthem, which is very easy to memorize—and is in the form of a Sanskrit shloka, it will be difficult for the mass of students to learn. So, on Tuesday, the first day of reopening, they will practice, and we will perform it the next day, on Wednesday,” he said.Some schools have chosen the first two stanzas, which are well-known to all, while others sang the full song. Some have given music teachers the responsibility of teaching the song to the students.On Monday, Delhi Public School Newtown involved the entire school orchestra in playing the song, with both teachers and students participating in the morning assembly to sing ‘Vande Mataram’. School principal Ambica Mehra said, “We have introduced the national song into our morning assembly and have started training our children because they need to learn the lyrics first to sing it properly.

Today, students from classes 1 to 12 participated in the assembly.

For the first day, we sang only the first two stanzas; once they learn the other stanzas, we will eventually include those portions.”Rammohan Mission School principal Sujoy Biswas said that on the first day, they distributed printouts of the lyrics to the students and played the song over the microphone to give them an idea of how it sounds. “First, we explained the significance of the song and distributed printouts of the lyrics to each student to assist them in singing it properly.

We motivated our children and told them to feel proud to be citizens of this country, as we are praising our motherland and offering our greatest gratitude to her.

We also told them to respect the motherland and revere her like a deity.”National English School had introduced the song immediately after the govt order was released, implementing it in their morning assembly before the summer break started. Mousumi Saha, the principal, said, “We created a roster that includes ‘Vande Mataram’ in the morning assembly two days a week, while on the other two days, we sing our school song. This is not just a song, but something that students should feel from within.

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