A school in Kanpur became the centre of controversy this week after several parents alleged that students in the school were being made to recite Islamic prayers in the morning. While the school has maintained that students would recite prayers from all regions, they stopped the practice immediately.
A day after protests at the Florets International School in P Road in Kanpur's Sisamau, the Uttar Pradesh police booked the managing director under Sections 295A of the Indian Penal Code and Section 5(1) of the UP Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act 2021.
On the evening of August 1, the police filed an FIR after receiving complaints from the Hindutva activist group Hindu Jagran Manch and parents of students enrolled at the school.
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'Mindsets changing' says school
Ankita Yadav, the principal of the school said that the issue cropped up only four to five days ago when some parents expressed concerns about the school's daily prayer practice. Speaking to BOOM Yadav said, "After 12 to13 years, we are facing this objection that Muslim prayer should be banned. A few parents asked us to stop it and alleged that we are forcing students to recite the Kalma." However, she added that the school followed prayers of all religions and not any one particular faith.
While Florets International School was established in 2003, the P Road branch was set up in 2009. According to Yadav, about 50 per cent of the students enrolled in the school are either Muslim or belong to other minority faiths. Yadav said that till July 31, there was no interference or objections to any of the school activities.
Yadav said she was unable to comprehend why the morning prayers that the school has followed for more than a decade suddenly faced objection. "I don't know why they (parents) objected. But it seems like the mindset of people has been changed. We are providing diaries to them and all prayers are there. Haven't the parents checked the diary during all these years?" Yadav said.
While parents and the Hindutva activists have said that the practice has hurt their religious sentiments, Yadav said "My 50 per cent of staff is Muslim, I have to see both sides. That's why we decided to recite the national anthem only and I hope they won't have any issue with it."
Yadav said that it was not only some parents, but other groups that were behind this issue. But she believes that most of the parents are in support of the school. "A majority of parents don't want us to stop this practice but some exceptional cases are not comfortable, so we decided to stop the practice," she said.
For Yadav, the concept behind this practice was to pass a message to students that all religions are equal. "We got hurt with this decision that we were forced to take because we are not wrong. We were thinking that we are doing something for the students. But unfortunately, because of a few parents, we have to stop it," she said.
She fears that people having such a mindset can create other controversies such as the school teaching students about Akbar or Razia Sultan from the history books. "They can come and ask us not to teach topics like Jahangir. It shows that a parent is injecting such differences into a child's mind and not the school," Yadav said.
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What do the complainants want?
The complaint submitted to the Sismau police station in Kanpur, that BOOM accessed, says that "an attempt from the school is being made to pave way for religious conversion of the students". It also accused the school of carrying out "shiksha jihad" as students were being made to recite the Kalma (Islamic Prayer).
BOOM also accessed the prayer book of the school and found that prayers pertaining to all religions — the Gayatri Mantra, the Sanchi Vaani and a pledge about belonging in India — were all included in the book.
The complaint against the school demands that it be sealed along with its other branches. One of the complainants, Shivam Dikshit, an advocate and member of the Hindu Jagran Manch, told BOOM that the school should not be sealed. He demanded that the school issue a written apology and remove the Islamic prayer from the diary.
He added that such actions by the school will not be tolerated as they could negatively impact Hindu children and change their behaviour. "We don't want our Hindu children to know anything or read anything about Islam. If they want to recite the Kalma, they should send those children to madrassas, it won't be accepted in our schools." Dikshit said.
He added that teachers in school should teach about the Hindu religion and not about things that are "dangerous to the country. Dikshit and other members of the group are also on the lookout for other schools following such practices. "This won't be accepted in our society," he said.
A parent, who is one of the complainants, said on the condition of anonymity said he had never noticed his son's school diary and came to know about it when a relative recently had asked his son to recite a prayer. "In the prayer, he recited the Kalma also. We were shocked and asked him where did you learn it from… he told us that in school they recite the Kalma. How can a Hindu child recite the Kalma? It is unacceptable, he said.
Hindutva groups reportedly carried out a "purification ritual" at the school to register their protest. Bhartiya Janta Party leaders Mahendra Shukla and Dheeraj Sahu visited the school demanding action against the management. They sprayed Ganga jal (holy water from the river Ganga) in the school and claimed that they purified the premises.
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Police action
The police have said that they are investigating the matter and will only be made by the court. ACP Nishank Sharma told BOOM that a tweet surfaced on social media stating that Islamic prayers were being recited on the school premises. "On August 1, we went to the school and asked the school management about it and it was stated that prayers of all faiths were recited in the morning assembly. And they have been doing this for more than 12 years. Later, the school announced that they will stop it and only the national anthem will be recited," he said.
ADM City Atul Kumar in a statement issued on Monday stated that the school has declared a holiday amid the row.