Bengaluru, An advisor to Karnataka government on education has suggested shelving all Jayanti or birth memorial holidays for students and replacing them with more meaningful programmes, an official said on Thursday.

Submitting his report to Deputy Chief Minister C. N. Ashwathnarayan, who also holds the higher education portfolio, Professor M. R. Doreswamy proposed organising thematic workshops, lectures, conferences and similar activities to celebrate the lives of those great personalities, rather than simply declaring a holiday, like for a festival.

"It would not only educate our youth about the significance of the great personalities to our culture and society and also reinvents the tradition of paying tributes to their contributions to our civil society," he said.

However, Ashwathnarayan said the decision to take a call on this has to be taken by Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa.

Karnataka government declares public holidays such as Valmiki Jayanti, Basava Jayanti, Kanaka Jayanti, Mahaveer Jayanti, Ambedkar Jayanti and Gandhi Jayanti.