Yet another shocking instance of an Indian school trying to brainwash and instill inferiority complex in Hindu students has come to light. A Maths teacher named Sarika Rana at Orchids The International School in BTM Layout, Bengaluru, Karnataka has been accused of promoting Islam and teaching children to pray to Allah, the ‘better God’, when the students were facing problems in solving some sums.

The school has denied the girl child’s statement as ‘baseless’ and has instead lodged a police complaint against her parents for ‘defaming’ the school.

The matter came to public attention when the minor girl through a recorded video statement alleged that during the a lesson on ‘Money’ her teacher asked the Hindu students to make a bowl shape of their hands and pray to Allah when students sought her help in solving the maths problems. 

Despite the students telling her that they are Hindus and so don’t pray to Allah, she reportedly scolded the students and made them follow her instructions. she She even said that Allah is a ‘better god’ while asking them to pray to Allah.

Following the above allegations, on 5^th January 2022, the school management released an official public statement saying that the child in the video was ‘lying’ and that the teachers at school don’t promote the any religion.

The school claimed they had checked CCTV footage of the class and spoken to the girl and other students and their parents. They claimed that the teacher had actually conducted an ‘eye-palming exercise’, called “TMEE (Two Minutes Eye Exercise) conducted during online class sessions, which is intended to help the children rest their eyes due to the screen time. This is an activity recognized by many organizations across the world”.

From the school’s defense, it would appear that the incident occurred during an online class session, but then why CCTV footage of the physical class becomes relevant is puzzling. In either case, the school should release the full video recording (of online session is it was a virtual class, or the CCTV footage if it was a physical class) to clear up the matter.

Refuting the ‘eye exercise’ claims made by the school, the minor girl and her father released another video statement as a rejoinder and clearly said that she did not get confused – she demonstrated how the Two Minutes Eye Exercise is different from the way they were made to pray to Allah. She clearly stated how the teacher made kids follow the entire Muslim prayer method by cupping the hands (making dua), then rubbing both hands on the face, and finally kneeling down.

Her father has alleged that the school management didn’t allow his daughter to speak and explain her version of events during their meeting. “It is correct we had a conversation with the school authorities (Principal and their legal team), but they refused to let my daughter speak about the incident that happened in the class”, he said.

Orchids The International School is running under the aegis of St Theresa Educational Cultural and Social Development Society vide registration no: 306/2003-04. The said society is tax exempted under section 12A of Income Tax Act 1961. As per the official website, Orchids The International School is having its campuses in all cities and towns of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.

Taking up the matter, legal rights organization LRPF has filed a complain with NCPCR (National Commission for Protection of Child Rights). Their complaint states that the allegations made by the minor girl are serious in nature and there is a strong prima facie case of contravention of Articles 25 and 28(3) of the Constitution of Bharat.

Further, it clearly appears that the school management is trying to suppress the facts and dilute the case by calling the minor girl’s allegations ‘lies’ in its official statement issued to the public. This act of school causes harm to the dignity of the minor girl which is a clear contravention to the provisions of the United Nations Convention on Child Rights which is adopted by the Government of Bharat. The so-called investigation made by the school management raises suspicion over its modus operandi, the complaint adds.

String of such incidents, increasingly in private, elite schools too

Incidents of Christian missionary schools denigrating Hindu beliefs and brainwashing Hindu students are numerous. We had covered the consistent indoctrination during morning assemblies in Delhi’s Mt. Carmel schools in an earlier article.

But the same trend is now starting to seep through into private schools, ostensibly with Hindu management, and even government schools like Kendriya Vidyalaya and others. Some incidents:

• A Muslim school teacher in Kendriya Vidyalaya No .1, Gaya, Bihar tore and threw a Bhagavad Gita into the dustbin and told students “Hindu devi-devata are dogs and bitches”. Although local police didn’t act on the initial complaint, the teacher was removed by KV management and the Muslim principal too has been suspended. An FIR was later lodged in the case.
• Muslim govt. school teacher Nishat Begum in Madhya Pradesh got a minor Hindu student beaten up for wearing a Tilak to school. 
• In 2017, news had emerged of Muslim teachers forcing Hindu boys to offer namaz in a government-run Mewat residential school in Haryana.
• A Chattisgarh govt school teacher from a tribal community denigrated Hindu Gods and thrashed students for keeping Krishna Janmashtami fast.
• Tagore International School, Delhi made Hindu teenage girl students wear hijab for Eid Assembly. The same school also came under fire for brainwashing children into gender identity politics and showing age-inappropriate content.
• A govt. school in Shivaji Nagar, Bengaluru has been accused of forcing students to do namaz and admitting only Muslim students.
• A lady teacher from Nurul Huda English Medium in Fatehpur, Uttar Pradesh, had revealed how Umar Gautam, the prime accused in the Uttar Pradesh mass religious conversion racket, had visited the school she taught in with 20-25 other Maulanas in the year 2020, to brainwash students and teachers to adopt Islam. She also revealed how the accused tried to lure them by providing financial support. Not only this, the teacher revealed how the school under Umar Gautam’s influence began teaching toddlers Urdu and Arabic in class. 

• Last year, the Tagore International School was again in news for showing a video promoting Islam during an online class meant to teach Hindi to Grade 2 students. The animated video in chaste Urdu was openly talking about Islamic theological concepts like Sunnat and Dua, it is alleged.
• A derogatory Ramleela skit performed by St. Mary’s school, Tohana showed Maa Sita jump into Ravana’s arms. A similarly derogatory skit on Ramayana was earlier done by AIIMS college students.