Lucknow school cancels holiday to mark ex-PM's birth anniv

An inter-college in the state capital cancelled the holiday it had declared for today to mark the 91st birth anniversary of former prime minister Chandra Shekhar.
The decision of the government-aided Khalsa Inter College comes within days of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's suggestion of devoting the day to inform students about great people instead of announcing day off.
Chairman of management committee of Khalsa Inter College Rajinder Singh Bagga and deputy manager Charanpreet Singh Bagga, said, "We welcome the observations made by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath of cancelling the holidays, which falls on the anniversaries of great personalities, and instead make the students aware about the achievements of the great personalities."

On April 14, birth anniversary of Dr B R Ambedkar, Adityanath had said, "There should be no holidays in schools on birth anniversaries of great personalities. Instead special two hour programme should be held to teach students about them."
The chief minister was also critical of the fact that "such holidays" were leading to reduced academic session in schools and colleges.
The children should be motivated to learn about tradition of personalities and their contribution towards the country, he had remarked.
In UP, there are 42 public holidays of which at least 17 are related to the birth anniversaries of eminent personalities.

The previous Samajwadi Party government had declared holidays on birth anniversaries of former Prime Minister Chandrashekhar (April 17), Maharishi Kashyap and Maharshi Nishadraj Jayanti (April 5), Hazrat Ajmeri Garib Nawaj Urs (April 26), Maharana Pratap Jayanti (May 9) besides on the death anniversary of Ambedkar (December 6).