Video of students offering namaz inside classroom goes viral

Even as the row over 'hijab' (scarf) in educational institutions has gripped Karnataka, two videos have surfaced in the social media allegedly showing some students in the districts of Dakshina Kannada and Bagalkote performing 'namaz' (prayers) in the school on Friday.

A video clip of the students allegedly offering 'namaz' in the classroom of a government primary school in Dakshina Kannada has gone viral on social media.

The incident that happened on February 4 came to light when the clip was widely shared in the social media and the local people raised objections.

The students studying in classes seven and five had offered mass prayers inside the classrooms last Friday. Now, the incident has come to light and has been opposed by the local residents. As the video clipping went viral, the officials from the education department and Bellare police have visited the spot.

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The teachers there said they had ordered the students to not engage in religious activities in the classroom.

School headmistress Jalaja said, "the incident of offering namaz had not come to the notice of the teachers last Friday. As soon as the issue came to our notice, we have directed students not to engage in such activities."

A few parents objected to the practice alleging that the school authorities permitted it to happen on the school premises

Parents of a few students had sought permission from the school to allow students to visit masjid to offer prayers on Friday. No permission was given to offer namaz inside the school.

"We had asked the parents to accompany the children for the masjid on Friday noon and later drop them back to the school. The students had offered namaz by locking the door. A parents meeting has been convened at the school on February 12 at 10 am," said SDMC president Praveen Ankathadka.

BEO Lokesh C said, "as soon as the incident came to my notice, I directed the Cluster Resource Person to visit the school to collect information and submit a report on the same."

On January 24, namaz by a few students in a government school at Mulbagal town in Kolar led to tension in the area. Parents of other students, alumni of the school and a few members of a caste organisation staged a protest in a school at Someshwarapalya for setting a new precedent of allowing Friday prayers.

The trigger was a viral video, which showed the students offering Friday prayers in a classroom.

The row over hijab versus saffron scarves on the high school and college campuses in certain parts of the State had resulted in tension, untoward incidents and even taken a violent turn at some places.

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The controversy had started towards December-end when a few women students in hijabs were denied entry into a college in Udupi. As a counter, some students turned up wearing saffron scarves.

On January 1, six girl students of a college in Udupi attended a press conference held by Campus Front of India (CFI) in the coastal town protesting against the college authorities denying them entry into the classroom by wearing hijab.

This was four days after they requested the principal permission to wear hijabs in classes which was not allowed. Till then, students used to wear the hijab to the campus and entered the classroom after removing the scarves. “The institution did not have any rule on hijab-wearing as such and since no one used to wear it to the classroom in the last 35 years.

The students who came with the demand had the backing of outside forces,” the college principal Rudre Gowda had said. Karnataka Minister V Sunil Kumar had alleged that the Congress is behind raking up the hijab issue for political gains.

This was echoed by Udupi MLA K Raghupati Bhat who said Congress is worried about the growth of Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) in the region and wants to appease the minorities.

(With inputs from PTI)

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