The West Bengal Board of Secondary Education on Thursday issued a notification making Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore's 'Banglar mati, Banglar jol', the state's official song, mandatory at morning assemblies in government-aided and sponsored schools across the state.
"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," reads the notification addressed to heads of the institutions for all recognised upper primary and secondary schools under the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education.
State education minister Bratya Basu said, "With the approval of the Chief Minister, it is hereby authorised that from now on, in every government and government-aided school of West Bengal, Rabindranath Tagore's famous song "Banglar Mati Banglar Jal"-written in 1905-shall be sung at the beginning of the school day as the prayer song. Along with the regular singing of the National Anthem "Jana Gana Mana Adhinayaka Jaya He"-also composed by the Poet-it is firmly believed that the singing of this atate song will serve as a special catalyst for maintaining and strengthening social and communal harmony throughout the state."
In 2023, the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government passed a resolution in the Legislative Assembly to mark Poila Baishakh, the first day of the Bengali calendar, as the statehood day and adopted Tagore's song as the state anthem. A year later, in January 2024, the West Bengal government was notified of the same. The notification also stated that the approximate playing time for the state song will be 1 minute and 59 seconds. The notification also added that the state song will be played at every government function, and it will conclude with the national anthem.
