After seeing the overwhelming response of International Yoga Day on June 21 in previous years, minister for education Vinod Tawde on Thursday asked the education officers and sports officers in the state to now celebrate Yoga Day on the 21st of every month in schools. In case, 21st falls on a holiday or Sunday, then the Yoga Day should be observed either before or after, he said. Tawde told officers via a video conference call on Thursday that they should organise yoga festival in the backdrop of International Yoga Day.
"The aim of the effort is to increase awareness about yoga among school students. Besides physical fitness yoga plays a role in concentration. The minister was holding a state-wide video conference with officials from the education department to discuss celebrations of International Yoga day," said an official working.
He asked them to upload photographs of the Yoga Day celebrations on the website.
He reminded the officers of 'Mission One Million' which was undertaken by his department to promote footballing culture in the state. He directed the education officers to submit their Yoga Day plan to the education commissioner by June 16.
Terming this as an attempt by Tawde to hide his inefficiency, MIM MLA Imtiaz Jaleel said that despite Mission One Million, what has been achieved in football is a question which remains unanswered. "Tawde should concentrate on his job of imparting education to students instead of saffronising the entire education system," he said. Jaleel added that students are not having good teachers and facilities, while Tawde is busy introducing new ideas which can court controversies. Jaleel pointed out that India did not even qualify for the World Cup football tournament.
Uday Nare, teacher at Hansraj Marathi Public School, Andheri said that the initiative might not be effective as there will be very little time to implement it every month. "We struggle to get teaching hours every month. Something like yoga should be a matter of interest and should not be enforced on students," he added.
