Zakir Naik school ‘illegal’, Tawde wants Anjuman takeover or kids to shift

MUMBAI: Days after school education minister Vinod Tawde said the state would not act against controversial televangelist Zakir Naik’s Islamic International School (IIS) in Mazgaon at least till the end of the current academic year, the state education department has done a U-turn. It wants parents to shift their wards as the school is “illegal”. The government had frozen the school’s bank account two weeks ago.
On Wednesday, Tawde told TOI: “We have found that the school is not affiliated with the board concerned nor does it have permissions from the state.We have given two options to the parents. One, move their children to another school, which they have not agreed to. Two, if the school can be taken over by the Anjuman-i-Islam Group, we will provide the necessary permissions and complete the due processes within a month.”
On Monday, two education department officers had visited the school and told the parents to shift their wards as soon as possible.
They said the school was illegal as it is not registered with the state government. They, however, assured the parents of help in admitting their children in other schools.
With no permissions in place, the state government could shut down the school and make the students relocate. However, school education secretary Nandkumar said that till date they have not got any orders about the action to be taken against it.
The parents told TOI on Wednesday that they are left stunned by the government’s flip-flop. “We were shocked when the officer told us to shift our kids to other schools when only last week, Vinod Tawde had assured that the school would not be closed,” said Ibrahim Armar, a parent. Three of his children—in Senior KG, Class IV and Class VIII--study in the school.
A livid Imran Qureishi, principal of the school, told TOI: “We applied for registration with the state government in 2010 but have not received it till date. Ours is not the only school which has not registered with the state government. So why is it being singled out?” He added that running the school has been extremely difficult since its bank account was frozen.
On Wednesday, the school’s parents and teachers petitioned both Tawde as well as the education department, apprising them of the stress they are facing due to the uncertainty over the school’s future.
“The school needs to register with the state, irrespective of the board it plans to be affiliated to. In addition to this registration, the school also needs to get a no-objection certificate from the education department every three years. However, none of these have been done in case of this school. The school has been allowing its students to appear for exams as private candidates,” said an official.
Founded in 2001, the school is being managed by the IRF Education Trust. The school claims to have applied for registration with the state in 2010 but it has not received it yet. It is in the process of getting affiliated with Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) Board. However, officials from the Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) clarified that the school is currently not affiliated to the board. "We would need to verify if the school had ever applied for an affiliation and its status," said a spokesperson. According to the CIE website, the affiliation process includes four steps--expressing interest, application form, approval visit and the contract. Whether or not affiliation has been granted is notified to the school within 30 days of the approval visit.
Apart from the IGCSE curriculum, the school “has an Islamic atmosphere”, follows gender segregation and strict dress code--girls are in hijab and boys wear skull caps.
Despite being concerned, the parents have not yet decided to shift their wards to other schools. “My daughter is in Class VIII. Like most other parents, I am happy with the school’s management and its curricula. We are worried as the students are in the middle of their terminal exam and we don’t know why we should shift our children to other schools if the parents and students have no complaints,” said Abu Zahra Adil Patanwala, a parent.
(With inputs by Vinamrata Borwankar)