A major controversy erupted in Damoh district of Madhya Pradesh after it was claimed that a private school is forcing students to wear a “hijab.” The accusations were made following the publication of an advertisement for Ganga Jamuna Higher Secondary School in Damoh on 31 May that featured meritorious students including Hindu and Jain girls wearing headscarves that looked like hijab.
Ganga Jamuna Higher Secondary School is a private, English-medium established in ward number 4 of the Futera neighbourhood in the Damoh region. The names of outstanding students from the school, both boys and girls, were listed on the posters that were doing the rounds on social media. Three of the eighteen were boys, while the remainder were girls. Four of the fifteen girls were from the Jain and Hindu communities and all of them were sporting hijabs, or head scarves, on their heads.
The District Magistrate (DM) Mayank Agarwal, however, dismissed the charges, alleging that they were simple misinformation and that there was nothing untoward discovered during the initial inquiries. In response to the tweet, the Superintended on Police (SP) Damoh commented that “the allegations were not proved on the investigation.”
The official then posted that an inquiry committee has been formed under the chairmanship of Tehsildar Damoh in the case and it has been directed to submit its report.
Priyank Kanoongo, the head of the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) tweeted, “A complaint has been received about a school in Madhya Pradesh’s Damoh district forcing Hindu and other non-Muslim girls to wear burqas and hijabs in the name of school uniforms. Cognizance of this is being taken and instructions are being sent to Collector Damoh and Superintendent of Police, Damoh for necessary action.”
The NCPCR chief took note of the situation and yesterday sent a notice (number DD6270) to the DM seeking an action report within a week.
According to the notice, the principal areas that are to be looked into are whether the school had the authorisation to permit hijabs as a dress code, the videos of students reciting religious prayers found by the commission, the violation of Article 28(3) of the Indian Constitution by the school administration and the monetary support obtained by the institution.
Article 28(3) mentions that no person who is attending an institution recognised by the State, or that is receiving aid from state funds shall be requested to indulge in any religious instruction that may be imparted in any such institution.
“In the matter of Hindu girls being shown in hijab in Ganga Jamuna School in Damoh, the District Education Officer and the local police officer investigated the matter but found nothing. However, in view of the seriousness of the matter, the Superintendent of Police has been instructed to thoroughly investigate the entire matter,” informed state Home Minister, Dr Narottam Mishra.
The school management immediately removed the banner from the building once its photograph went viral on social media.
Notably, Hindu organisations have been protesting against the school administration since 2021. They claimed that the pupils were taught as if the school was a Madrasa. Hindu girls were made to wear hijab and boys were instructed how to recite namaz. The school administration has not yet been subject to any legal action.
School photos of students uploaded by teachers on Facebook and Instagram reveal that the females are donning the hijab on sports day and not all of them belong to the Muslim community. Their heads are covered in the annual class pictures that are shared on Facebook. Those who didn’t put on hijabs kept a dupatta on their heads.
The students can be seen singing Muhammad Iqbal also known as Allama Iqbal’s poems like Sare Jahan Se Accha and Lab Pe Aai Hai Dua in footages. The girls are wearing hijabs and they start their recitation with an Islamic greeting.
Girls are decked out in green, white, and saffron hijabs at 2022 Independence Day celebrations. Dupattas are worn on the heads by those who are not covered with the hijab.
A girl can be heard welcoming the function’s chief guest, MP Tiwari, as well as the school’s director, Haji Mohammad Idri, the vice president of the Ganga Jamna Welfare Society, Haji Abdul Razzaq, and the cashier of the Ganga Jamna Society, Haji Mohammad Mushtaq.
Sixty per cent of the students enrolled at the school are Hindus, and their parents have no objections to the arrangement, per Station House Officer Damoh Kotwali, Vijay Singh Rajput, who visited the school on May 31 along with District Education Officer (DEO), Santosh Mishra. He stated that the poster had been taken down when they arrived at the school.
Onkar Singh and Dr Nivedita Sharma, two Madhya Pradesh State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (MPSCPCR) members, also voiced doubts on the aforementioned issue. The latter said, “SCPCR is receiving such complaints from across the state. I myself have gone to many places, and the government has also taken action at its level. An investigation of some is going on, and in some cases, the commission has also written to the government, and notices have also been issued to such institutions. In this case, we will also find out the real truth.”
“I have such evidence that proves that Hindu girl students have been presented in the flex imposed by the school management. Posters were pasted on the walls of this school. In this case, the members of the commission will also go to the school and meet the girls,” added the former.
Hindu groups protested outside the district collector’s office, proclaiming that the school compels Hindu female pupils to wear the hijab. They submitted a memorandum demanding the cancellation of the school’s registration.
“Your officers have probably been bought. The police removed this board in the night. Under whose pressure are you,” Vishva Hindu Parishad’s Central India Prant Prachar Pramukh Jitendra Singh Chauhan wrote to Collector Damoh. Sharing the poster he asked, “Respected sir, what do you have to say about this poster? This is on the wall of the school, even after all of this, if the administration closes its eyes, then it is love for a particular religion,” he asserted.
Meanwhile, the allegations have been refuted by the school’s owner, Mustaq Khan, who insisted that the headscarf was part of the dress code and that no one was forced to wear it.
It is important to note that Hindu activists have already expressed their displeasure with the school and its imposed religious practices. The DM received a memorandum from VHP members back in September 2021.
They reported that students at Ganga Jamna School are coerced into receiving an education along Madarsa lines. The school mandated the girls to cover up with the hijab and ordered the boys to offer namaz. Verses from the Quran were written in Arabic within the classroom. The document highlighted numerous similar problems, but as of now, nothing has been done against the school administration.