Veer Gatha 5.0: Schools to hold competitions with focus on military traditions, set up dedicated corners on warriors

The Veer Gatha 5.0 competition is part of the government’s efforts to instil patriotism and civic consciousness among students through inspiring stories of bravery and heroism, according to a circular issued by the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT).

As part of the initiative, schools are required to establish a dedicated ‘Veer Gatha Corner’ focusing on gallantry awardees, military traditions, strategies, and the wars and struggles of great warriors, soldiers, and rulers. Photographs of these corners may be shared on the social media platform X with hashtag #veergatha5delhi. Defence Minister, Delhi Chief Minister, Prime Minister’s office, and Directorate of Education, among others, are to be tagged with the same.

Following a letter from the Ministry of Education dated September 1, and in coordination with the Ministry of Defence, all schools in Delhi have been urged to include military traditions and strategies, war descriptions and struggles of great warriors, soldiers, rulers and monarchs in its activities. The programme will also include online or one-on-one sessions organised by the Ministry of Defence for schools across the country.

The activities planned are diverse – recitation, essays writing, painting, multimedia presentations, storytelling and reporting. These will take place in schools until September 30. After evaluations at district, state and national levels, the best projects will be awarded on Republic Day next year, the circular said.

Schools under the Directorate of Education, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, aided schools, the Delhi Cantonment Board, and private institutions have been asked to conduct the competition and upload their best entries on the MyGov portal, it added.

To ensure the smooth conduct of the event, schools have also been asked to nominate nodal officers at the state, district, and institutional levels.

Earlier this year, during the felicitation ceremony of Veer Gatha 4.0, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had suggested including “stories and art of telling stories of great pre-Independence warriors” in the Veer Gatha 5.0 edition.