New Delhi, July 17 (IANS) National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) member Priyank Kanoongo on Friday said that the Telangana government has been asked to take action after a class 2 student of a private school in Hyderabad was asked by a teacher to recite the ‘Kalma’, and that a detailed report has been sought from the state government.
A class 2 student at a school in Hyderabad’s Saidabad area, was reportedly assigned the task as a homework activity in his school diary, the pictures of which have been widely circulated on social media.
The school management had on Thursday terminated the services of the teacher concerned.
Speaking to IANS, NHRC member Priyank Kanoongo said: “We have received a complaint from an organisation called ‘Seva Nyayasthan Foundation’. The complaint stated that a school in Hyderabad has been giving Hindu students homework to memorise the ‘Kalma’.”
“This is a serious matter and amounts to a blatant violation of Article 28(3) of the Constitution of India. We have issued a notice to the Telangana state government regarding this matter, directed it to take appropriate action, and sought a detailed report,” he added.
Earlier, soon after the student’s parents learnt about the alleged attempt by the teacher to make the child memorise Islamic religious texts, they took up the matter with school authorities and confronted the management. They expressed deep anger and questioned the inappropriate conduct of the school, questioning the attempts to vitiate the academic environment for children.
Some videos of parents engaged in verbal exchange with the school authorities also went viral on social media.
The parents demanded stern and swift action against the school authorities and those involved in pressurizing students to undertake such activity. The matter turned bigger as local community members joined the parents in protesting against alleged “inhuman practices” at the school.
The incident drew strong condemnation from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP).
Calling it an assault on children’s impressionable minds, VHP’s Vinod Bansal said, “Schools are temples of knowledge, not centres for imposing religious education. The incident of teaching kalma to innocent second-grade students in Bhagyanagar (Hyderabad) is a direct assault on children’s constitutional rights and parents’ trust. Strict action should be taken against the guilty school management.”
–IANS
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