Click to play videoBhopal: Most of us grew up singing Johnny Johnny Yes Papa and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.
But now, thanks to the Madhya Pradesh government succumbing to saffron pressure, children in the state will not be learning them any more.
The state government has decided to do away with these two and four other popular nursery ryhmes from the class I syllabus of all non-CBSE affiliated schools.
The state claims that these rhymes smack of feudal mindsets and that's why they are being replaced by poems that are inspired by nationalism.
Says state education minister, Narottam Mishra, "We have removed some poems from the school syllabus. The decision was taken as our committee feels nationalist poems need to be taught to school kids."
However, parents feel otherwise.
Says Noor Jehan, whose child studies in Class I, "Children enjoy these nursery rhymes, they really love them and they have a lot of fun reciting them. I don't see any point in banning them."
Textbooks for class IV and VII have also been changed to be used in all non-CBSE schools across the state.
The decision has already drawn flack from educationists.
"Agreed that Johny Johny Yes Papa and Baba Baba Black Sheep could have some English bias but how can any one have problems with a universal poem like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Surely there appears to be a hiddden agenda."
The Madhya Pardesh government also says it will now give preference to poets and authors from within the state.
The government is relying upon voluntary and adhoc teachers to impart education. Not a single teacher has been apointed in the past 13 years and as a result 75,000 posts of teachers are lying vacant.
Instead of focusing on real issues, the state is trying to divert attention and the latest move to do away with nursery rhymes from text books is a similar exercise undertaken by the government under pressure from the safffron brigade.
(With inputs from Manoj)
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