As it becomes clear that the poem is part of the syllabus of the school and it has no objectionable content and the headmaster had allowed students to recite it on their request, the state government has hinted that the suspension will be revoked.
India Tomorrow
NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 19— Three days after Headmaster of a government school in Uttar Pradesh’s Pilibhit district was suspended following the complaint by the local Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal leaders that students were singing Poet Iqbal’s poem in the morning prayers, the government has reportedly hinted that the suspension would be revoked. Meanwhile, students of the school have staged a walk-out from the school as a mark of protest against the suspension of their headmaster.
The poem “Lab pe aati hai dua” was written in 1902 by Mohd Iqbal, also known as Allama Iqbal who also wrote the famous poem “Sare jahan se achha Hindustan hamara.”
The local VHP filed a complaint leading to an inquiry which was conducted by Block Education Officer (BEO) Upendra Kumar. The inquiry revealed that the children in the school usually sang the poem during the morning assembly. Pilibhit District Magistrate Vaibhav Srivastava said that the headmaster was suspended because he was not making the students sing the national anthem.
“If the headmaster wanted to teach another poem also to the student, he should have sought permission. If he makes student recite a poem and not the national anthem, then there is an offence against him,” the District Magistrate said.
The suspended headmaster Furqan Ali, 45, however, denied the allegations.
“Students regularly sing the national anthem and the poem by Iqbal is part of the Urdu syllabus for classes one to eight. VHP and Hindu Yuva Vahini workers held protests outside the school and at the Collectorate, demanding my removal. I only got a poem, which is part of the government school syllabus, sung. My students also raise patriotic slogans such as ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ every day during the assembly,” he said.
The Basic Shiksha Adhikari (BSA) of Pilibhit, Devendra Swarup, meanwhile, said that the complaint by VHP and Bajrang Dal members was not against whether the national anthem is sung or not — it was an objection against the poem by Iqbal.
Now it has become clear that the poem was part of the syllabus and the headmaster had allowed students to sing it in the morning prayers on alternate day on their own request. Students also recite ‘woh shakti humein do dayanidhi’ poem.
Shocked with the suspension of their headmaster for the poem they like the most, the students of the school stood up for him and walked out of the school on Friday. Since his suspension, attendance in the school has also dipped.
Basic Education Minister Satish Chandra Dwivedi has sought a report from the Education Directorate and Ali’s suspension will be revoked soon.
“It was initially found that he was getting a different prayer recited, but later it was found that he was getting a poem by Iqbal recited which is about patriotism. The BSA and DM acted hastily. The suspension should not have been done without collecting all the facts,” Dwivedi was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.
“We will also issue a general notice to all schools that only those prayers should be recited in the morning assembly which are prescribed by the education department,” he said.
–With Inputs From IANS
