Around 100 students to watch Republic Day parade from PM Modi's box: Education Ministry

The Ministry of Education stated that at least 100 meritorious students from schools and colleges will get a chance to see the Republic Day parade from the Prime Minister's box on January 26. After the parade, the students will also get an opportunity to interact with Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank'.

Around 100 students have been shortlisted for the purpose in which 50 students are from schools and 50 from higher education institutions.The selected students will also be felicitated with the Certification of Appreciation, a ministry official told PTI.

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Last year on 71st Republic Day, a total of 105 toppers from CBSE and universities across the country got a chance to watch the parade from the PM's box.

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Effects of COVID-19 on Republic Day Celebrations

An official told PTI that due to COVID-19 safety guidelines, there will be no chief guest at the event this year and the guest list has been kept very short. Gravity-defying stunts by motorcycle-borne men, a major attraction for the crowd during Republic Day celebrations on the Rajpath, will be missing this year. The spectator size too has been reduced to 25,000. On account of Social Distancing the parade of gallantry awardees and children who have earned bravery awards will also not be there at the 72nd Republic Day event. In order to avoid overcrowding and follow social distancing norms in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of participants in the Republic Day cultural programmes has been cut down from over 600 to just 401. 

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(With PTI Inputs)