Guna (Madhya Pradesh): ‘Hanuman Chalisa’ was recited on Thursday at a Catholic school here after a class VII student was allegedly made to sit on the floor of the school for four straight periods as punishment for raising ‘Bharat Mata ki jai’ slogan at the end of school assembly on Wednesday.

The incident reportedly occurred at Christ Senior Secondary School.

The family of the affected student reached the school along with other people and members of social organizations and raised slogans against the management.

Following the protest, the school management apologized to the parents, however, the parents stayed adamant on their demand for an FIR to be lodged against the Catholic school management and the teachers who handed out the outrageous punishment.

What happened in School?

Shivansh Jain, the student who was punished, told the media that one Justin Sir heard him raising the slogan ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai' at the end of the assembly, after which Justin asked Shivansh to stand out of the line. “What are you saying? Go to the Father,” Shivansh claimed he was told by Justin.

“After that, my Hindi teacher came and told me to meet the class teacher. When I met the class teacher, she said that I should raise it at home,” alleged Shivansh, adding that he went ahead to attend class.

However, in the classroom, Jain claimed he faced some serious humiliation by his class teacher Jasmeena Khatun.
“One of my classmates was chosen as vice-captain of the Red House on which my class teacher asked me to take inspiration from him as he was, according to her, making the class proud, while I was tarnishing the class’s name,” Shivansh said, adding that later, the teacher made him sit on the floor for the next four periods.

What happened at home?

Shivansh’s mother told the media that her child came back home and locked himself in a room.

“He did not eat and started crying. After that, he narrated the entire story, following which I told the entire incident to his father”.

His father then told a few people about the incident and decided to meet the school management the next day.

Next Day!

The principal of the school, Father Thomas, said the boy did not raise the slogan for patriotism, but just for fun.
“A disciplinary committee meeting will be arranged and then the matter will be decided upon,” he said.

Parents, however, did not take the school principal’s response as satisfactory and decided to recite ‘Hanuman Chalisa’ as a mark of protest.

Things escalated at the Catholic school when local political leaders, along with some retired district administration officials, joined the protest and alleged that the school is made on ‘illegally acquired’ government land.

After almost three hours into the protest, the school reportedly apologized to the parents and issued a circular declaring that such incidents will not be repeated in the future.

‘Bharat Mata ki Jai' will be chanted after the national anthem.

References:

firstpost.com