Since May last week, the ‘Ganga Jamna School’ of Madhya Pradesh’s Damoh and their administrators are facing backlash for having a ‘Madarsa’ like culture irrespective of being a private school. The principal, a teacher and a peon have been booked under the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act and are all arrested.
The matter came to light after posters of Hindu and Jain girls wearing hijabs went viral on social media. The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has been monitoring the case closely and only after their inspection drive, a case was instituted against the perpetrators.
Notably, these students were made to recite ‘Surah-Al-Fatiha’ and ‘Lab Pe Aai Hai Dua’ as morning prayers. These children had separate greetings mentioned in their diary in Urdu language, they had a separate prayer to be offered before and after lunch, all in Urdu.
The girl students were asked to wear the Hijab alias Ahram, as the school authorities referred to it. The school had a half day on Fridays, there were special vacations during Ramzan, the Independence and Republic Day events had Islamic songs for the performances and much more.
The administrator Haji Idris runs multiple businesses and he and his family members looked after the schools. As many as four Hindu teachers have become Muslim, before and after joining the school.
Today we will introduce you to an 11-year-old boy, Kamal Soni (name changed, surname retained) who too was a student of Ganga Jamna School and is well-versed in Arabic and Urdu language.
Kamal is the elder son of Vimal and Shrishti Soni who live in the Futera area of Damoh City for almost 16 years now. Their family lives besides their house and they live in a two-room arrangement. One if used as a kitchen, while the other a bedroom.
Kamal is going to ‘Ganga Jamna School’ since nursery. The parents claimed that they were sending him to the school as it was within walking distance from their house and did not have much fees.
For Kamal, who reached class-5 this year, the family was paying a total of Rs 10,900 as annual fees. This included books, dress, examination and co-curricular activities fees.
Kamal has been studying Arabic language as his first language in school since class-1 and is well-versed in it. From class-5 he was supposed to learn Urdu as his first language. The examinations to these subjects were conducted orally, those who failed to answer the questions were also given passing marks.
Kamal told this correspondent who was on a ground visit to the city on June 13 that they were asked to offer Muslim prayers in the school. These prayers were ‘Lab Pe Aai Hai Dua..’ (by Allama Iqbal) and ‘Surah-Al-Fatiha’.
Kamal recited some verses of Lab Pe Aai hai Dua and then recited the ‘Surah-Al-Fatiha’ without stopping once. Kamal does not know Sanskrit mantras, nor he can read one as he never studied it as a subject. He can easily read and learn Arabic or Urdu.
To greet the teachers Kamal says they had to say, “Assalam Walikum”.
Kamal has been reciting Islamic prayers since kindergarten days. Some questions from his KG booklet are:
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.
This correspondent asked if he was allowed to wear Tilak and Kalawa at school to which Kamal said, on Tuesdays, he used to go to the temple with his father, who dropped him at the school gate from the temple. The peon Rustum used to remove his Tilak and Kalawa before entering the school. They were never allowed to wear Rakhi at the school.
This correspondent asked Vimal, Kamal’s father about the administration’s behaviour he said, the administration said, they cannot allow religious things in the school, as it is a place of education. They had no problem with the headscarf as their son was studying at the school.
Vimal Soni is a photographer by profession and takes orders from home only, he does not have a studio. His wife Shrishti is a homemaker, Ruchi and two of his children had just returned from their maternal house.
Kamal was concerned for his father, following the action against the school. Videos of Kamal were circulated widely on television and social media after he recited ‘Fatiha’ on camera. Since then media persons have been visiting them frequently.
Kamal wanted to become a special officer and wishes to take admission in the government excellence school.
Notably, in the FIR (number–498/2023) registered against the accused, Kamal’s statement is also enclosed and hence police also visited their house. Following the visit, the child was feared, thinking due to his recitation, the police will take his father with him. He thought he will not get admission in any school as he spoke against the ‘Ganga Jamna Administration’.
This correspondent immediately called Priyank Kanoongo, chairperson of NCPCR, who did a small counselling of the child and assured him that he will get admission in the school of his choice.
Talking with Organiser, MP-SCPCR member Onkar Singh said, the commission has finalised as many as five schools so far both government and private, in the private schools these students will be provided admissions under RTE, and if anyone does not fall under the RTE criteria, they will have to pay the fees.
However, another member of the SCPCR Megha Pawar said, apart from the marked government schools, some of the NGOs have also come forward to fund the education of these students.
Notably, Ganga–Jamna Higher Secondary School is an English medium private institution located in ward number–4 of the Futera area in Damoh district. Following the SCPCR’s visit, the district education department suspended the registration of the school. However, the grounds for the temporary suspension were the structure of the school and not the religious practices.
Ganga Jamna is an English medium school that has Urdu and Arabic as their first language. The students were punished for not performing well in these languages. The parents like Vimal, who belongs to a lower-middle-class family were sending their children to this school due to low fees.
It is pertinent to mention that the school was taking grants from the minority commission in the name of education, out of 1200 enrolled students, as many as 350 are Hindus. These students submitted their fees and brought books and dresses for the new session before schools resumed in April.
Now, with registration stands cancelled the students as well as parents are left disillusioned. Some appreciate the move, while others say, they thought the Hijab was part of the dress. These parents have never checked the books and diaries of the students, and if they did and raised their voices, the administration suppressed it, by luring them with more fees deductions or scholarships.
Students like Kamal are groomed and passively moved towards Islam in the name of education. The administrator, Haji Idris, of the school, is still walking free, as only the principal and a teacher were arrested.
Idris is a well-connected person both financially and politically and hence he can more likely get away with this. Kanoongo during a TV interview once said the school administration has once brought their registration from the High Court and they can do it again.
About the loophole in the suspension order, he said, “The board has only suspended the registration of the school and has not cancelled permanently. The basis of this cancellation is the compromised infrastructure and not the Islamic practices followed and forced by the administration on Hindu students. As soon as the administration of the school will meet the specified guidelines pertaining to the infrastructure, they will get the registration back, the commission is committed to making sure this does not happen”.
Organiser met six Hindu students in its drive to the city, there are 350 students who were following all these practices for years now. Organiser will get back to these students after they had resumed their classes in the new school so that they can count some differences and their feelings about the same.
In this visit when this correspondent asked these kids about how they felt at the school, was it different, they had no answers as, they have never been to any other school where girls are not forced to wear Hijab, where they are allowed to celebrate festivals in the school campus, where there are competitions like Rangoli competitions, there are songs like ‘Vande Matram’, ‘Ye Desh Hai Veer Jawano Ka’ etc.
To know more about the school and the controversy, readers may go through this report by Organiser.
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