By Meena Kotwal, TwoCircles.net
In a shocking incident, the headmaster of a government school in Pilibhit district of Uttar Pradesh was suspended only because he recited a ‘government-approved’ Urdu prayer in school.
There are 19 government schools in Bisalpur, Pilibhit, all of which teach only up to Class 8.
Furqan Ali, who is disabled and uses a cane to walk, also teaches in one of these schools. But he is the only staff in this school. He teaches, cleans and cooks in the school as there are no other staff in the school. In a conversation with TwoCircles.net, he informed that the prayer, a famous poem of Allama Iqbal-Lab pe aati hai dua ban ke tamanna meri-is part of the school syllabus as mandated by the state educational council.
The book, where this prayer is mentioned, also contains prayers from other poets including Murarilal Sharma “Balbandhu”’s poem “‘वह शक्ति हमें दो दयानिधे, कर्त्तव्य मार्ग पर डट जावें! (grant us that power that enables us to be firm on our duty!)’. This song is also sung as a morning prayer, but it is Iqbal’s poem that is suddenly at the centre of attention.
Speaking to TwoCircles.net, Furqan Ali informs that the complaint on the Urdu prayer was lodged by a certain Ravi Saxena of Vishwa Hindu Parishad. After the complaint to the SDM, he was suspended.
According to Furqan Ali, there are 267 children in the school, but around 150-180 children attend school every day. Most of these children are Muslim. Two schools exist in the same courtyard: one up to Class 5 and the second up to Class 8.
He says, “I am the only staff here… I am the teacher and I am the principal. I teach all children from first to fifth.”
When asked how he divides his time between the classes, he says, “There are only three classes in the school. The first and second sit and learn together. Similarly, the third and fourth classes sit together and the fifth class sits separately.”
He further states, “I can give only about 30 to 45 minutes to a class at a time and go to class only once a day. I am unable to tend to the same class again because apart from tending to all the students, I also tend to all other chores of the school. It necessitates that I take help from students for some of these tasks, for example, older students help in taking care of the little ones.
“But since (after suspension) I am not going to school, the children are not going to school either and neither are their parents sending them. The parents say when there is no one to teach, what is the use of sending our kids.”
On 14 October, Furqan Ali received a notice from the office of the District Basic Education Officer, Pilibhit, which said he had been suspended for having a second prayer at the school.
Pilibhit district officer Vaibhav Srivastava told Twocircles.net that the headmaster had stopped the national anthem at the school and was conducting it only a few days in a month. He changed the prayer on his own, Srivastava added.
“Furqan Ali said in his statement that 90% of the children in the school are Muslim, so the poetry of Allama Iqbal was performed as a prayer,” said Srivastava.
Vaibhav admits that “although the poetry of Allama Iqbal is very good and it is present in the syllabus, he was suspended for saying that since 90% of the children of Muslims, Jan gan man was stopped”.
Answering the question of shortage of teachers, Vaibhav says that after suspending Furqan Ali, two teachers have been appointed to teach in the school. He accepted that there is a severe shortage of human resources in the area.
At present, there is no toilet in the school. The facilities in the junior school are used when needed. The school’s cleaning expenses are taken care of by outside help. However, it seems that amidst all these shortcomings, the authorities have decided to act most urgently against a prayer because of the religion of the poet and the teacher.