Image Source: Deccan Herald
Parents of Muslim students at Vidyasagar English School, Bengaluru allege that the school management and a teacher had a bias while engaging with Muslim students. This led to a heated argument against the school principal and the school management dismissed one teacher for creating unnecessary problems.
The school is located in Chandra Layout locality of Bengaluru. The parents who assembled in significant numbers claim that the mathematics teacher made derogatory remarks to their children regarding the Islamic religion, hijab, and other religious traditions. The parents had demanded immediate action against the teacher and even questioned the principal.
Soon the police and the education department officials rushed to the scene and pacified the teachers, students and parents. However, the air is still tense. A parent alleges that all of the students in the seventh grade had complained about the mathematics teacher being biased against them. He further said that the teacher made derogatory remarks by saying that the Muslim population is close to 25% and girls cannot wear hijab anymore.
Continuing further, the same parent said that the school is old and the majority of students there are Muslims. Additionally, he says that he is confident that the court ruling will be in favour of allowing girls to wear hijab but until the decision comes, the older girls have stayed back at home.
The principal of the school has said that the mathematics teacher had told the students about the Karnataka HC order regarding the hijab issue. He further elaborates that the teacher asked them not to talk in class and wrote the first letter of the children’s name on the blackboard- KLS. The students were mistaken and took it for something else. He goes on to state that 90% of the students were Muslim and that there had been no problems in the previous 15 years, and that the teacher should have stayed to the syllabus and not strayed from it. He also explains that students have been coming in hijab and they were not objecting to it.
Bengaluru South Deputy Director of Public Instruction (DDPI) said that he had visited the accused teacher regarding the issue and spoke with her. However, he says that the teacher refused to accept the charges because she had not discussed the court order and was simply teaching the syllabus. He claims that the parents misinterpreted their children’s words, causing misunderstanding. The DDPI further said that he spoke with the students and said that the teacher has not abused any student. Explaining further he said that the students can come to the school premises however they wish but they have to follow the uniform.
References: Times of India.
