After Gita shlokas, now Gayatri Mantra in Haryana schools

Haryana Education Minister Ram Bilas Sharma (Files)

Haryana’s Education Minister Ram Bilas Sharma said Friday they were going to add Gayatri Mantra in the morning prayers conducted in the schools. Talking to the journalists, Sharma said they had included Gita shlokas in the school syllabus soon after formation of the BJP government in Haryana. “It has yielded positive results. Now, we are going to add Gayatra Mantra in the prayer meetings of schools so that the children can understand its meaning,” he said. The minister claimed the “Gayatri Mantra would be welcomed in Haryana like Gita, cow and Saraswati.”

Haryana Vidyalaya Adhyapak Sangh president Wazir Singh claimed Gayatri Mantra was already part of morning prayers in most schools in the state. “We are living in a secular country and equal importance should be given to the practices of all religions. The government should focus more on the issues like recruitment of teachers and strengthening the infrastructure for the schools,” Singh said.