Since the last month when the Islamization of education in Jharkhand schools was exposed, similar incidents are being uncovered from almost every corner of the country. Recently, a private school in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, has been forcing students of all religions to recite “Kalma” during morning assembly. The school in question is Florets International School, a privately owned institution in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. After a video of the identical occurrence went viral on Sunday, the incident came to light.

Many parents and representatives of various Hindu organizations demonstrated at the school and organized rallies once the news spread widely. They complained to the school administration for making their kids recite the Kalma during the morning prayers.

Kanpur police were called by the parents who arrived at the school’s grounds on Monday morning with top officials and filed a complaint against the private institution for allegedly forcing Hindu students and other non-Muslim students to recite “Kalma” every day.

While speaking to Republic TV, a parent said, “One day my daughter said that she is unable to learn this (Kalma). We filed the complaint in school. They asked us to give a written complaint. In another branch, they sing Muslim prayers on speakers. We will put our child in a different school if this is the case.”

Concerns about their kids being made to recite the Islamic prayer were voiced by numerous other parents as well. “My son is a student here. My youngster has been reciting the Kalma at home for the past three days which is a matter of concern. Our son told us that the school teaches it to the students every day after prayer. Why should my son read this? What if, after a few days, he rejects his own religion?” said the furious parent of another student attending Kanpur’s Florets International School.
Nishank Sharma, ACP, acknowledged the occurrence and stated that they learned about Kalma being taught to students at Florets International school via a tweet. He said that as soon as they were made aware of it, the district magistrate and the local police were alerted, and a police team went to the school to look into the situation.

ACP stated that they discovered that this procedure had been going on for the previous 12–13 years. He claimed that the school notebook also has prayers from all four major world religions—Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, and Christian. He continued by saying that according to the school administration, this practice has never been criticized before. Just four days ago, a parent’s side made a protest over this.

He added that the school administration allegedly told the police, in order to support the “Sarva Dharma Samman” doctrine, that prayers from all four major religions were recited at the school during the morning assembly. ACP added, “The school authorities after the objection decided that only the national anthem will be recited during the assembly. They have stopped all the other prayers.”

In the meantime, BJP leader Geeta Nigam voiced grave concerns about the controversy and said that children from the playgroup were being taught the prayers.

“Why are students being taught this? Why have you not stated the meaning of this prayer? What does it mean? That sentence means “There is no one there but Allah.” We don’t want to offend anyone’s religious sensibilities, but if you want to teach this, please do so in a madrasa.” She continued by saying that the Kalma recitation had been approved by the principal and professors, who only intervened after word of the situation reached the public. She cautioned that if this happened, stern action would be done.

A video of Councilor Mahendra Shukla dousing himself in water in the middle of the incident has gone viral. Shukla informed the media, “Jana Gana Mana is not being repeated here, instead, pupils are being urged to say the Kalma,” in a strong condemnation of the school’s arbitrary choice to teach the Islamic prayer to students of all religions. They undoubtedly have ties to PFI. The situation will be investigated. The school has been cleansed by being covered in Gangajal.

 

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