Primary school students across Uttar Pradesh have been asked to go to school on September 17, which is a Sunday, to celebrate Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday, reported The Times of India. All students of the 1.6 lakh government primary institutes in the state must attend the celebrations, Minister of State for Basic Education (Independent Charge) Anupma Jaiswal was quoted as saying.

However, the schools that Scroll.in checked with said they had yet to receive the order.

“MLAs who have adopted schools in their region will go there and promote Modi’s message of cleanliness as part of the celebrations,” she told The Times of India, adding that children becoming aware of cleanliness is the only way to realise Modi’s dream of a ‘Swachh Bharat’. “This will be the best gift to the prime minister on his birthday.”

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s Uttar Pradesh Spokesperson Chandra Mohan agreed that this would be the best way to promote cleanliness, calling Modi the “perfect icon for children”.

On August 23, the Ministry of Human Resource Development had sent out a directive to colleges, universities and institutes to observe a cleanliness fortnight from September 1 to 15.