Maestro Ilayaraja, who was honoured with the Centenary Award at the inaugural ceremony of International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa, has said music should compulsorily be taught in schools.

Union Minister of Finance and Information and Broadcasting Arun Jaitley presented the award to the ‘Isaignani’, who said making music mandatory in schools would go a long way in curbing violence.

Later, he enthralled the audience with a wordless recitation of the Telugu song ‘Ragam rasamiya vedamai…’ At the event, Russian filmmaker Nikita Mikhalkov was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement award.

Meanwhile, A R Rahman will be the chief guest at the valedictory ceremony of the coveted IFFI on November 30. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the government of Goa along with Directorate of Film Festivals (DFF) and Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG) made the announcement at a review meeting recently