On May 31, a poster of Hindu girls wearing Hijab pasted outside a school in a small town of Madhya Pradesh sparked controversy. Soon, rounds of debates and investigations began. Organiser, found videos showing students were made to recite Islamic prayers. Soon, the Home Minister of the state and the Chief Minister took cognizance and finally, the registration of the school was cancelled immediately.
Before moving ahead go through this report or a brief timeline listed here;
- Pictures of Hindu and Jain girls wearing hijabs showed up on the internet on May 31
- District Magistrate discarded the allegations saying nothing was revealed
- National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) took cognizance of the matter and issued a notice
- Taking cognizance of the video posted by Organiser, NCPCR added the Islamic prayer point to the notice
Home Minister Dr Narottam Mishra issued probe orders - The administrator of the school Haji Mohammad Idris, wrote a letter to CM, stating the scarf was never mandatory as a school uniform it was always optional
- On June 2, Members of the state SCPCR visited the school and found irregularities and proofs of Islamic conversion
- The same day a circular was issued stating the registration of the school had been suspended by the state education department
To understand the background of the case in detail read these reports by Organiser here and here.
Let us take you through the reasons behind this suspension order. The members of the Madhya Pradesh State Child Commission (MP-SCPCR), Onkar Singh and Megha Pawar visited the school on June 2. They found a number of irregular practices and loopholes in the documentation.
In an exclusive conversation with Organiser, Megha Pawar told, she has visited a number of schools in her career but this was more than a school, a place of religious teaching.
Asked why she would say that, Megha added, “As soon as we entered the school there were Ayats and lessons from the Quran imprinted on every wall. In other schools, teachers right thought of the day on the board, but here some Ayats or sayings were written in Urdu”. She shared some of the pictures showing the Islamic texts, attaching them below:
About the Hijab controversy, she said, “We have seen their academic register and the identity cards of the minors, all of them had their pictures in Hijab. Although the administrator had called it a scarf in the letter to Chief Minister but the school administration and even the students called it Hijab only”.
She added that girl students were asked to wear Hijab after class 6, before that they were allowed on campus without it. Even in the sports day activities, cultural activities or school photos, the girls were seen wearing Hijab only.
The students would greet the teachers with ‘Assalam Walikum..’ and not Good Morning, said Megha.
Some of the pictures from the school register:
The school has as many as 1200 students in all and out of them, more than 350 were Hindus. She met some of the parents with the students to find out the reason behind their choosing this school, which is forcing religious practices upon students.
She said the parents were in terror as if someone asked them to keep their mouths shut. They said, they had no problems, some said, they had no idea about these practices, which looks like a blatant lie, as the girl’s students were asked to wear Hijab outside the school gate by peon Babu Khan.
Asked about the Islamic prayers, Megha told, “Students were asked to recite three Islamic prayers followed by the National Anthem during the assembly every day. One of the students hesitantly told the prayers included, ‘Lab pe aai hai dua’,”. (Watch the video here)
Organiser found these videos from the YouTube channel of the school, watch them here .
Speaking with Organiser, the other SCPCR member Onkar Singh shared a shocking detail about the syllabus and books of the school. He said, although the school is a private institution and has been registered with the Madhya Pradesh Board of Secondary Education, it was providing education like Madarsa. The syllabus had Urdu as a compulsory language subject for the students. He also shared pictures of the Kindergarten booklet which had questions like:
Q. What are the 5 pillars of Islam?
A. Kalma, Namaz, Roaza, Zakat & Haj
Q. Who are you?
A. I am a Muslim.
Q. Where is Allah?
A. Allah is everywhere.
Q. Which is the holy book of Muslims?
A. The Holy book of Muslims is Quran
Q. What is your religion?
A. My religion is Islam.
Apart from this Singh shared another bizarre detail about the school where from the principal to the teachers three women were converted post-appointment. Their names as listed in the teacher’s sheet showed, one of them belong to the Jain community and had become a Muslim after marrying Sabir Ali.
Another woman who used Shrivastava as her surname became, a Muslim upon marrying Sheikh Iqbal. Another woman became Muslim upon marrying Toseef Khan.
He added, the institution charged a hefty sum of money from the parents and was simply preaching Islam from the institution. One of the parents told them that, he had paid around 12,000 as an annual fee for his two children studying in fourth and sixth class respectively.
He showed some pictures from the annual day of the school where minor girls of age as low as four to five were seen wearing a Hijab during the function.
With such shocking revelations, the controversy has become the talk of the town, the Bharatiya Janata Party, state head, VD Sharma said, “Today I saw that the lady teacher who was a Hindu has become a Khan. Apart from this, there are two more female teachers who have been converted. I have demanded that Idris Khan, Jalil Khan, Mushtaq Khan should be investigated for their relation with terror funding. They have created a jihadi empire. From where did thousands of acres of land come to them? How did you get the opportunity to set up such a big institution inside Damoh? Our sisters were trapped in love jihad and converted by the school management”.
On the other hand leader Pragya Thakur said, “The heretics do their own work. When the people who follow religion become ignorant, unrighteousness increases. This is what is happening now. They are carrying on with their mission and conspiracies. In our society, the field of education is considered as a place of worship. They are spreading their toxic propaganda. I curse such people. Both the Madhya Pradesh and the Central Government are alert. They will get proper punishment, that’s for sure.”
Notably, the school, Ganga–Jamna Higher Secondary School is an English medium private institution located in ward number–4 of the Futera area in Damoh district. The posters in circulation had names of meritorious students of the school, both girls and boys. Out of 18 mentioned students, three were boys and the rest were girls. Out of 15 girls, four were from Hindu and Jain communities. Shockingly, all these girls were seen wearing Hijab (a scarf covering their hair).
It is pertinent to mention that this is not the first time that Hindu activists have complained about the school and their forced religious practices.
Back in September 2021, the members of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad handed over a memorandum to the DM. They alleged that the students at Ganga Jamna school are forced to take the Madarsa kind of education. The girl students at the school were forced to wear Hijab whereas the boys were forced to offer Namaz. Inside the classroom, Quran Ayat’s were written in Arabic language and many such points were raised in the memorandum. However, no action was taken against the administration to date.
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