Celebrating V-Day as Mom's Day - order withdrawn

Satara (Maharashtra), Feb 13: A directive asking schools and colleges in Maharashtra's Satara district to celebrate St. Valentine's Day as "Mother's Day" was withdrawn Friday, an official said. Maharashtra Education Minister Vinod Tawde said of the Feb 11 circular: "It was wrong to issue such a circular." Shortly after IANS broke the story, a top state education department official called up the district education authorities and asked them to withdraw the embarassing order immediately. The Wednesday circular, issued by the Satara District Education Officer(Primary) directing schools and colleges to celebrate V-Day Saturday as Mother's Day, caused a huge row. Hours after it became public knowledge, triggering opposition from social activists and NGOs, officials sent out a fresh circular asking all the educational institutions to ignore the earlier order. "We have withdrawn the previous order and issued a fresh one. The earlier order went out owing to some technical issues," District Education Officer Pravin Ahire told IANS, without explaining the 'technical issues'.