New Horizon Public School (NHPS) on Monday acknowledged that it had sent an e-mail asking its alumni to change the name of Varanasi’s Gyanvapi Masjid to Gyanvapi Temple on Google Maps.
It, however, said that “the e-mail was sent without proper screening procedures that is required of all our e-mail communications”.
“We are an institution that embraces diversity and fosters a safe and inclusive environment for our students. That said, reports of the e-mail sent out about disrespecting certain religious sentiments have come to our notice and the issue is being handled with the highest priority,” said the statement on the school’s official Twitter account.
“We take pride in the cultural and religious diversity of India, we practice the same in letter and spirit every day with everything that we do at our school,” the statement added.
Earlier in the day, the school’s alumni officer, Vasanthi S R, had acknowledged the controversy by saying the matter is being investigated.
Alumni voice concern
Many former students spoke up against the “dangerous e-mail”.
Waseem Chishty, who said he studied at the school from 1991 to 2001, has written to the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE), to which the school is affiliated, reporting the NHPS for “communal activities that encourage communal disharmony amongst students and alumni”.
According to Chishty, the e-mail was sent from connect@nhpsalumni.mails.org.in, which the school regularly used to contact its alumni. The recipients were all non-Muslim, he added.