Childrens' day: CM Fadnavis takes cue from Modi, speaks to students

Much like Modi’s address in September, the chief minsiter’s interaction was beamed live across 480 municipal schools, while students asked him questions through video conferencing.

Taking a cue from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Teachers’ Day interaction with students, chief minister Devandra Fadnavis addressed students from the city’s municipal schools on Children’s Day on Friday.

Maharashtra-CM-Devendra-Fadnavis-interacts-with-schoolchildren-of-on-Childrens-day-at-Vile-Parle-in-Mumbai-Satish-Bate-HT-photo

Much like Modi’s address in September, the chief minsiter’s interaction was beamed live across 480 municipal schools, while students asked him questions through video conferencing.

Speaking from the Dixit Road Municipal School, Vile Parle, Fadnavis informed students about Bhartiya Janata Party-led government’s plans for children. “There are several schemes in the education sector, we see whether these are reaching the students,” Fadnavis said.

“Through virtual classrooms, students will be exposed to expert views, latest trends in education and new ideas,” he said. Interestingly, the virtual education system in schools was a 2011 initiative by Uddhav Thackeray, the Shiv Sena chief.

Education minister Vinod Tawde urged the students to participate in the five-day long cleanliness drive, Bal-Swacchta Abhiyaan, launched by the Centre.

The drive saw mixed responses from city schools on Friday. While some participated in the campaign by undertaking clean-up drives, others continued with their usual Children’s Day celebrations.

Balmohan Vidyamandir, Dadar, commenced a ‘Zero Waste Campus’ programme to introduce waste-management in the school. “Zero waste implies that almost all the waste generated is manageable. We will segregate it into dry and wet waste. The dry one will be recycled and the wet one will be turned into manure,” said Sheetal Nerurkar, head of the community at the school.

Students of Anjuman-I-Islam’s Saif Tyabji Girls School, Byculla, have decided to participate in the campaign on all five days.

Utpal Shanghvi School, Juhu, did not want to shift the focus from students on Children’s Day and held special programmes for them. “We inculcate the importance of cleanliness in our students every day, so we did not carry out any special drive today,” said Rakhi Mukherjee, principal.

“We wanted this day to be special, and so we screened films and arranged a dance programme as well,” said Freny Mehta, principal, The Alexandra Girl’s English Institution, Fort.

“We identified areas that needed cleaning and deputed students for it,” said Father Bosco D’Mello, principal, Don Bosco School, Matunga.

Early Childhood Association, a forum of pre-school experts, launched Swachh Bachpan, Swachh Zindagi, an initiative to teach children the importance of personal hygiene and cleanliness.