On the occasion of Surya Sapthami, Thursday witnessed a collective endeavour across government and private schools in Rajasthan, as over 133 million individuals, including students from more than 88,000 schools, participated in a synchronised Surya Namaskar program, setting a world record recognised by the World Book of Records.
Education Minister Madan Dilawar expressed his gratitude to the students, teachers, parents, lawmakers, institution heads, and various segments of society for their participation in making this achievement possible. He commended the organized management of the event and the diligent efforts of the entire team of the Department of School Education.
Madan Dilawar was presented with a provisional certificate for the world record by Rajasthan's first Vice President of the World Book of World Records—London, Bhalla, on Thursday at the Indira Gandhi Panchayati Raj Institute. The event saw the presence of Naveen Jain, Secretary of the School Education Department, Avichal Chaturvedi, Commissioner of the Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education, and State Project Director, along with other officials and employees of the Education Department.
Legal Controversy with Surya Namaskar
However, the event was not without its share of controversy. Prior to the programme, Muslim groups protested against Education Minister Madan Dilawar's announcement of the event, citing concerns of religious imposition. Despite the protests, Minister Dilawar remained resolute in his decision, refusing to budge on the matter. Subsequently, the issue escalated, reaching the High Court for resolution. After legal arguments were presented, the High Court cleared the event for execution.
Despite all odds Education department led by secretary, Naveen Jain worked round the clock to make the exercise a huge success as per wishes of Minister Dilawar.
According to Naveen Jain, the collective Surya Namaskar exercise took place simultaneously in all government and private schools across the state from 10:30 to 11.00 on Thursday morning. A staggering 114,699,914 students from 88,974 schools participated in the event. Additionally, a total of 133,500,889 individuals, including students, education department personnel, public representatives, parents, officials, and members of various sections of society, joined the initiative.
Naveen Jain shared that around 67 lakh students from close to 67,000 government schools and 50.5 lakh students from 21,984 private schools in the state participated in the program. In government schools, 77.63 lakh participants including students, took part, while there were 55.87 lakh participants from private schools.
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