Slogans for rallies and morning assembly

A slogan on a chart is read. A slogan in a rally is performed. The second needs planning: who leads, who answers, when to stop, and how to keep sixty children in step and safe on a road. This guide is for teachers, class monitors, NSS and NCC volunteers and anyone asked to "take out a rally" by Friday.

Choose slogans that can be shouted

Not every good slogan works aloud. For a rally or prabhat pheri, pick lines that:

• are in the language most of the group speaks at home,
• split cleanly into two halves,
• have the same number of beats in each half,
• end on a strong, open sound that carries.

Hindi and Punjabi rhyming couplets are the easiest. Five or six slogans are enough for a rally of half an hour. Repeat them in a fixed order, so that everyone knows what comes next.

Call and response

The simplest form: the leader shouts the first half, and the group answers with the second. It keeps the group together, because nobody has to remember the whole line.

A second form is the question: the leader asks "पानी किसका?" and the group answers "हम सबका!", then "बचाएगा कौन?" and "हम सब!". Children enjoy it, and passers-by stop to listen.

Practise before the day

1. Write the five or six slogans on the board. Mark the break in each with a slash.
2. Say each one with a clap on every beat. Fix any line where the group stumbles: it is usually one word too long.
3. Choose two leaders with clear voices, one at the front and one in the middle. The back half of a long line cannot hear the front.
4. Walk one round of the ground while shouting. Shouting and walking in step is harder than it sounds.
5. Decide the order and a hand signal for "stop".

Placards and banners

• One slogan per placard, in letters readable from across the road.
• A front banner with the name of the school and the theme of the rally.
• Light chart on a stick for small children. Heavy boards tire them in ten minutes.
• Reuse old cardboard and cloth, especially for an environment rally.

Safety on the road

A rally puts children on a public road, so the school's own rules and the instructions of the local police or traffic staff come first. As general good practice:

• Fix the route in advance, keep it short, and keep to one side of the road.
• Walk in twos or threes, with teachers at the front, middle and back.
• Carry drinking water and a first aid box, and avoid the hottest part of the day.
• Count the children before leaving and after returning.
• Stop the slogans near hospitals and places of worship, and in front of examination centres.

Slogans at morning assembly

Assembly is the other stage for a slogan. One student reads the slogan of the day, says in two sentences what it asks of everyone, and the school repeats it once. A different class can take each week, with a theme: water in the first week, the road in the second, kindness in the third. By the end of the term the school has heard forty slogans and, more usefully, forty small actions.

Days that suit a themed assembly are listed in our slogan calendar. To write your own lines, see How to write a slogan.

What to avoid

• Slogans against any person, party, community or country.
• Whistles, loudspeakers and drums without permission.
• Making very young children walk long distances for a photograph.
• Leaving placards and litter behind. The rally should leave the road cleaner than it found it.