The Madhya Pradesh government, led by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, on Tuesday, asked school students to say ‘Jai Hind’ instead of ‘Yes Sir’ or ‘Yes Ma’am’ to answer their roll-call. The state government issued an order making it mandatory for school students to reply with a ‘Jai Hind’ to roll-call. The new norm will be implemented at all state-run schools from the new academic session.

The government order (dated May 15, 2018) signed by deputy secretary school education Pramod Singh reads, “It has now been made compulsory for all 1.22 lakh government schools in state to answer attendance roll calls by saying Jai Hind instead of yes sir/ma’am. This is the decision taken by state government to instil patriotism among students.” The order was issued after the approval from the Chief Minister.

“From now, in government schools during attendance call, students will reply with ‘Jai Hind’ instead of ‘Yes sir’ or ‘Yes Madam’. This will instil a sense of patriotism among the youth,” School Education Minister Vijay Shah said in November 2017.

Though the order has not such instruction for private schools, Shah earlier said that an advisory will be issued to all private schools as well in this regard. The school education department in its proposal to CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan had stated that present practice of ‘Yes Sir’ or ‘Yes Ma’am’ should be replaced with ‘Jai Hind’ as it does not foster patriotism among students.

The practice of saying ‘Jai Hind’ to answer roll-call on an experimental basis in Satna district in October last year. Congress leader KK Mishra objected to the government’s order and said, “We cannot force patriotism. There is no need to make it compulsory, the government should first think about the quality of education, lack of teachers in Government schools.”