India’s apex child rights body has recommended the removal of two illegally-built ‘mazars’ it found inside a government school in Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh.
During a survey, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) also discovered that singing the national anthem is banned and students are granted weekly leave on Friday in the CM Rise School of Kurwai in Vidisha district.
Patriotic songs are banned in this school, as per NCPCR chairman Priyank Kanoongo.
Speaking to The New Indian, Kanoongo said: “Two mazars have been constructed on the premises of a CM Rise School where students get weekly leave on Friday.”
The child rights body has recommended an FIR against the school principal and the removal of the mazars from the school premises, he said.
“We will not tolerate any kind of communal activities in schools. We will ensure a proper conducive environment in the school and take the hardest step to ensure it,” he asserted.
The school has around 25 per cent Muslim students in class 8th, nearly 10 per cent in class 9th, around 15 per cent in class 10th and nearly 10 per cent in classes 11th and 12th, as per the NCPCR.
The rights body also said that the dropout rate of Muslim students from the school was very high due to the non-conducive environment.
In its recommendations, the NCPCR has asked the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh to ensure that the national anthem and state anthem are played in the school and sung by students. It has also recommended a thorough investigation into the matter.
A regular counsellor must be appointed in the school for regular counselling of students, the NCPCR has recommended. It has also asked the school to send a monthly report on the steps taken to make the environment conducive for students for the next three months.
The NCPCR has also recommended an investigation into allegations regarding the presence of proscribed radical Islamist organisations like the Popular Front of India (PFI) and Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) in Kurwai town, where the school is located.
“The involvement of organisations like PFI and SIMI in the State of Madhya Pradesh is well known and the Commission is apprehensive that the State being vulnerable to activities of such organizations, there might be a possibility of these organizations being involved in the Kurwai Town of Vidisha,” the rights body said.