West Bengal Makes Rabindranath Tagore's State Song Mandatory in School Assemblies: What You Need to Know

Prior to this directive, schools in the state had no specified prayer song requirement beyond the National Anthem.

Kolkata:

The West Bengal Board of Secondary Education issued a notification on Thursday mandating that Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore's 'Banglar mati, Banglar jol', which is the state's official song, must be sung during morning assemblies across all government-aided and sponsored schools in the state.

The notification, addressed to institutional heads of all recognized upper primary and secondary schools under the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education, clearly states: "The undersigned is directed to inform you to take necessary action for regularly singing the state song - Banglar Mati, Banglar Jal in the morning assembly mandatorily."

State Education Minister Bratya Basu explained, "With the Chief Minister's approval, it is now authorized that Rabindranath Tagore's renowned composition 'Banglar Mati Banglar Jal' - written in 1905 - shall be performed as the prayer song at the beginning of each school day in every government and government-aided school across West Bengal. Alongside the regular performance of the National Anthem 'Jana Gana Mana Adhinayaka Jaya He' - also composed by Tagore - we firmly believe that singing this state song will serve as a special catalyst for maintaining and strengthening social and communal harmony throughout West Bengal."

In 2023, the Trinamool Congress government led by Mamata Banerjee passed a resolution in the Legislative Assembly designating Poila Baishakh (the first day of the Bengali calendar) as the state's official statehood day and adopted Tagore's composition as the state anthem. The West Bengal government received formal notification of this decision in January 2024. According to the notification, the state song's standard playing duration is 1 minute and 59 seconds. Additionally, the directive specified that the state song must be played at all government functions, followed by the national anthem.