Principals of some private schools in Delhi today said their students and teachers too should have been invited at Manekshaw auditorium from where Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacted with lakhs of school children across the country through video conferencing.
About 600 students from government schools in the city along with another 100 from Kendriya Vidyalayas attended the function which was telecast live across the country.
According to the principals, students and teachers of private schools should have also been invited at the venue of the function to give them an "opportunity as well to interact with Modi".
"Students from private schools could have been given an opportunity to interact with the Prime Minister... 20 per cent of the schools in the country are private and including them would have made the function more inclusive," said Ameeta Mulla Wattal, Principal of Spring Dales, Pusa road.
"I just wish private school teachers had also been a part of the interaction... It would have been a special Teachers' Day for us," she added.
Another school principal, on condition of anonymity, said though they implemented the government's directive to ensure that the students watched the telecast of PM's address, they feel they had been "excluded" from the entire programme.
"In my opinion private school students should also have got an opportunity to attend the programme. Our children were enthusiastic about hearing Modi. I feel we also deserved a chance," she said.
The city schools, including private, municipal, govt-aided and government schools, were asked to ensure that children were present in school between 3 PM and 4.45 pm on September 5, to watch the programme on TV sets.
