Dehradun school declares Fridays as half days, founder MK Hussain withdraws decree after protests

After many state-run schools in Jharkhand and Bihar, a private school in Dehradun, Uttarakhand has come under fire from parents and members of various Hindu organisations for arbitrarily declaring Friday as a ‘half day’ to pander to the local Muslims in the area. The school in question is Bright Angel Public School, which is located in Dehradun’s Vikasnagar district. The school’s director and founder is MK Hussain, while Azra Hussain serves as its principal.

According to reports, the school’s regular class timings are from 8 am to 2 pm. On Thursday (July 22), when the children returned home, their diaries had a note that read that the school would henceforth close at 12 noon instead of 2 pm every Friday. Notably, the Jumma Namaz timing on Fridays is typically between 12 noon and 1:30 pm.

Several parents opposed the prejudiced decision taken by the school authorities.

When Hindu organisations learned about this, they too protested against the school’s decision. Rakesh Tomar, an office-bearer of Hindu Jagran Manch alleged, “The school’s manager is from the Muslim community. They are spreading religious fanaticism. Children of all religions study in the school. This step of the school management will have a bad effect on the education system of Uttarakhand.”

Reportedly, Hindu Raksha Sena’s President, Swami Prabodhanand Giri, travelled from Haridwar to Vikasnagar to oppose the school’s arbitrary decision. Strongly objecting to the directive issued by the school authorities, Swami Prabodhanand Giri said, “This is not a school but a factory of jihadis and Pakistani agents. This man should be arrested and sent to jail. We have all seen what happened with Kanhaiya Lal in Udaipur, Rajasthan. That might occur here as well.” The seer added that the school management is tarnishing the dignity of Devbhoomi.

He also raised some serious allegations against Block Education Officer Vikasnagar and Deputy District Magistrate Vikasnagar Vinod Kumar. Drawing Uttrakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami’s attention towards the steady Islamification of schools in the state, the seer demanded that the two officers be suspended with immediate effect. He said that the administration and government should take cognisance before an occurrence similar to Udaipur’s Kanhaiya Lal incident transpires in Uttarakhand in the days to come.

Having said this, Swami Prabodhanand Giri demanded that the school be sealed and its ongoing hostels and other activities should be scrutinized.

Swami Prabodhanand Giri also lodged a complaint with the District Magistrate (DM) against the school authorities. The DM, in turn, ordered the SDM to investigate the matter. Speaking to The New Indian, block education officer VP Singh said, “An inquiry has been ordered in the matter. We will submit our report to higher authorities of the department for further action.”

The decree issued by the school also went viral on social media and several people started demanding action against the school management. Owing to the outrage, the school authorities decided to withdraw their decision to declare Fridays as half days.

When SDM Vikasnagar summoned the manager and principal of the school to his office and asked for a response, both of them immediately expressed their deepest apologies. The school administration decided to revoke its directive immediately, which they said was taken for the convenience of the school staff.

Notably, the locals refer to MK Hussain, the founder and director of Bright Angel Public School, as Major Sahib. MK Hussain is related to the school principal, Azra Hussain. MK Hussain was a former army lieutenant colonel. Later, he also rose to the position of chairman of the Uttarakhand Muslim Educational Law Board. OpIndia attempted to contact MK Hussain to seek his opinion on the matter, but he did not answer our call.

Source : OpIndia