The principal of a school in Goa, the Keshav Smruti Higher Secondary School, was suspended for making Hindu students visit a mosque for an “educational workshop.” The suspension followed protests by Hindu organisations, who objected to the school’s decision to take its students to a mosque and involve them in Islamic customs. Girls were made to wear hijabs, and boys were made to do other Islamic practices like washing hands and feet. Twenty-two students attended this workshop, including 2 Hindu and 2 Christian girls.
VHP intervenes
The Hindu organisations, including the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, contended that the school neither sought parental consent nor received any orders from the education department. Additionally, they said that the female students were coerced into performing Islamic rituals.
In response to complaints, the Vasco police summoned the suspended principal, Shankar Gaonkar, and Abdul Rehman K, the Vasco unit secretary of the Students Islamic Organisation of India who had organised the “workshop”, to record their statements.
The school maintains that they received an invitation inviting their students and students from a government higher secondary school in Baina to visit the mosque which took place on a Saturday.
The VHP condemned the actions of the Islamic organisation as highly reprehensible and shameful. They raised concerns that this might be a practice of “school jihad” and vowed to oppose such activities. The Hindu community, along with the VHP, firmly declared their intolerance of such practices, emphasising their commitment to not allowing them to continue.
Pandurang Korgaonkar, the Chairman of Keshav Smruti Higher Secondary School, suspended the principal following the demands raised by parents and others who had gathered at the school premises. The parents of the students voiced strong objections, accusing the school management of negligence.
Parents kept in the dark
According to reports from TOI, an anonymous parent revealed that the school management kept parents uninformed about their children’s visit to the mosque. All parents united in their condemnation of this incident and issued a warning to the management, urging them to exercise caution when organising any visit or tour that might provoke communal tensions or hurt the sentiments of any religious group.
Speaking to reporters at the school, Keshav Smriti HSS Chairman Pandurang Korgaonkar clarified that the school management was unaware that the students were sent to a mosque to participate in a workshop. Several photographs of the incident were circulated widely.
Pressing questions
At the outset, several pressing concerns and questions emerge and they need to be asked.
Lack of transparency: Parents were not informed or included in the decision-making process regarding this visit, especially considering it occurred on a Saturday when many parents might have expected their children to be elsewhere.
Imposing non-Hindu practices on Hindu children: The matter raises concerns about the imposition of non-Hindu practices on Hindu students, especially girls. It prompts us to question why regressive ideas, like suggesting that girls should cover their hair to avoid “exciting” men, should be propagated among school students.
Indoctrination and ideological influence: Another pressing issue is the apparent allowance of an ideology that openly proclaims non-believers will go to hell to influence and potentially indoctrinate young minds.
Is this how schools will operate in the future? Will Hindu parents be kept unaware of their children’s activities? Will such indoctrination be allowed in schools freely?
