Protests over alleged derogatory remarks against Hinduism end with teacher’s suspension at St. Gerosa School

Protests over the alleged derogatory remarks against Hinduism and Ram by a teacher in the classroom of St. Gerosa English Medium Higher Primary School here ended with the management keeping the teacher under suspension pending inquiry by the Education Department.

Protests over the alleged derogatory remarks against Hinduism and Lord Sri Rama by a teacher in the classroom of St. Gerosa English Medium Higher Primary School here ended with the management keeping the teacher under suspension pending inquiry by the Education Department.

After Dakshina Kannada Deputy Commissioner M.P. Mullai Muhilan and Mangaluru City Police Commissioner Anupam Agrawal held a lengthy meeting with the school management, School headmistress Sr. Anitha announced the decision to the media at the school premises in Jeppu.

In the written statement, Sr. Anitha said, “Dear parents, we had created a conducive environment with mutual trust and quality education. In the light of the recent incident, we have decided to keep Sr. Prabha under suspension and another teacher will perform her duties.” The headmistress said the school would extend all cooperation to the district administration for a transparent inquiry. The management would abide by the outcome of the inquiry, she said.

Sr. Anitha also said that in its six decades of service, the school did not have any such incident in the past. The school was committed to the Constitutional principles and treated all religions and practices equally. The incident has created a temporary misunderstanding between the parents and the school, she said, hoping the trust would be rebuilt with the cooperation of all.

Mr. Muhilan told reporters that the administration wanted a peaceful resolution to the controversy in the interest of students. The proposed inquiry by the department would be completed at the earliest, he said and sought cooperation from all.

The controversy erupted on Saturday, after a voice message of a parent of the school got circulated on social media alleging that the teacher had spoken lightly about Hinduism, Lord Rama etc., while teaching Class 7 students. Soon, Hindutva organisations, including the Vishwa Hindu Parishad-Bajrang Dal and the Hindu Jagarana Vedike and Mangaluru City North MLA Y. Bharath Shetty took up the issue and demanded action against the teacher.

On Monday morning, VHP held a demonstration in front of the zilla panchayat office and demanded DDPI D.R. Naik initiate disciplinary action against the teacher concerned, latest by Wednesday.