Sing national anthem or lose attendance, salary: Rajasthan's directive to govt schools, offices

Singing national anthem and the national song has been made mandatory in all government schools and offices under Rajasthan's education, Sanskrit education, and Panchayati Raj departments, education minister Madan Dilawar announced Monday.

The state is also set to implement a common uniform for all government and private schools for both students and teachers from the 2026 academic session.

Further, attendance of officials and staff would be recorded based on their participation in the programmes. "The day will begin with the national anthem and end with the national song... Only those officers, staff, and teachers who are present for the national anthem will be marked present," Dilawar said, adding that the policy aims to encourage nationalistic fervour among staff and students.


Dilawar said that a formal order detailing the implementation process will soon be issued. The order is also expected to outline punitive actions against those who fail to attend, arrive late to the office, or miss the national anthem or national song, TOI reported. "Each school and office will have to submit geo-tagged photographs every day to the department, which will help in monitoring."

It is being planned that the national anthem would be sung between 9 am and 9:15 am each morning.

From the next academic year, students and teachers would be required to carry ID cards and the government will implement a mechanism to send SMS-based notifications to parents of government school students regarding their wards' attendance.

State govt also plans to drop ties in school uniforms. "We have discussed this with some private school associations. All education department officials at the district, block and panchayat levels will monitor whether the same uniform is being worn in schools. A committee will be formed to decide on the uniform. Boys may likely be asked to wear shirts with trousers or half-pants, and girls, skirts with shirts or salwar-kurta," Dilawar said.