By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter
The principal of a missionary school in Barabanki district of Uttar Pradesh has asked a Muslim student of the school to either remove her scarf or ‘hijab’ or take admission in a madrasa.The incident was reported from Anand Bhawan, a Christian missionary school based in Nagar Kotwali area of Barabanki.
After the controversial statement or order, the school officials are being probed by the local authorities.
When the concerned girl’s father Mohammad Raza Rizvi wrote to school authorities, he too was asked to get her daughter admitted to an Islamic school.
“The school does not run on religious beliefs,” said school principal Archana Thomas in the letter issued on the same matter. Principal Thomas reportedly tried to remove the scarf of the girl student by herself after succeeding in removing the scarf of another girl.
“It is to clarify to you that this is a minority school, but there are many communities in minority category, and one community cannot impose its rules on other communities,” Thomas reportedly replied to Rizvi, telling him that school will not entertain any exemption from its rules.
“My daughter was asked not to wear a headscarf to school, another girl was made to remove it. I argued that our Sikh brothers are allowed to wear turbans, even though the same is not part of the dress code,” Rizvi informed the media.
When we asked the principal about the situation, she replied that she did not ask the girl to leave the school. She said, “If they have a problem with our rules, they can take their wards in any school if they want.”
PN Singh, the Basic Education Officer at the state, has issued a notice to the school but apparently, the school has not replied to the letter yet. “We have asked the officer to make an on-spot inquiry,” Singh informed the media.