Common prayer irks parents of AMC Urdu medium school kids

“If the intention of the authorities’ in removing this age-old practice then why have they not passed any written orders but verbally asked the schools to conduct their prayers with the Gujarati medium schools. We strongly oppose our children to follow anti-Islam prayers in schools,” stated Mohammad Ayub president of Jamalpur-based Social Edification and Welfare Association in his representation submitted on December 8 to the Administrative Officer L D Desai.

The recent change has been implemented by the AMC School Board authorities on a trial basis from this week in Urdu medium schools of only south zone. These areas include Behrampura, Chandola, Danilimda and Jamalpur. These schools have about 3,500-4,000 Urdu medium students. There are 65 Urdu schools and 300 Gujarati medium schools under AMC which have 18,000 and one lakh students, respectively.

When contacted, the Administrative Officer L D Desai justified the move terming it as a attempt towards social reform. “The board has noticed discrimination among students when it comes to morning and afternoon assembly sessions. We want to propagate the concept of ‘sarva dharma prathna’ sessions among students of various communities. To start with, we have chosen Urdu medium schools,” he said.

Further questioning the standing of the association, Desai said, “These are the community heads who have been objecting during ‘navratri mahotsav’ and competitions in schools as well. They did not allow their girls to participate in garba citing that it is against their culture and would have bad moral implications in their society. Why are these community leaders objecting when we want to motivate students to participate in cultural activities and competitions.”

However, the reason for opposing the move is said to be the selection of prayers by the Gujarati municipal schools. While the Gujarati medium schools recite the “Guru Brahma, guru Vishnu” shloka, the Urdu schools recite the Kalma. In Gujarati medium schools, there is a list of more than 30 prayers which the schools follow as per their weekly schedule.

Apart from a sarva dharma prathna “Om tat Sat shree narayan tu”, various songs and prayers in both Gujarati and Hindi are being sung by Gujarati medium students which include the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) anthem “manushya tu bada mahaan hai”, “mandir taru vishva rupalu sundar sarjan hara rey”, “mata sharda jone apey vidya teru dhyan”, “itni shakti hamey dena data”, “asatya mahe thi prabhu satya tu leyi ja”, “satya ahimsa chori na karvi”, “vaishnava jana to… and 11 preachings of Mahatma Gandhi. With the new practice, children of all faiths will have to recite these.