Hyderabad School Conversion Bid, BJP Calls For Statewide Survey

A private school in Hyderabad with mostly Muslim students had to terminate a teacher after she allegedly assigned religious homework to a Class 2 Hindu student, triggering a controversy and protests by the parents of the Hindu student. “Success, The School,” in Saidabad, Telangana issued a termination letter to teacher Shaik Aisha Parveen, stating that she was permanently disqualified from teaching in any of its schools. “The teacher acted in violation of the school’s policy and has been terminated. The parents are satisfied and no police complaint has been filed,” said a senior Hyderabad cop. The school apparently is a secular school run by Muslims. It is open to children of all faiths. For some bizarre reason Shaik Aiisha Parveen had asked the non-Muslim students to also work on Kalma and Surah Fatiha. The Kalma is the Islamic declaration of faith, while Surah Fatiha is the opening of the Holy Quran. Cops acknowledged that the teacher had violated school policy which was why she lost her job. Initially the school had said that the homework was only for Muslim students who opted for a subject about Islamic teachings. According to the cops the Muslim students outnumbered the Hindus. BJP Telangana President N Ramchandra Rao however felt since Success School came under Telangana’s Department of Education, the department must survey schools across the state for such insidious attempts to convert Hindus. Rao feels that the issue that has cropped up in-Success School — wherein two Hindu students were asked to write the Kalma may not be an isolated instance. The government should take action against the management. The management says that they have terminated the teacher. But terminating the teacher is not sufficient. We feel it is not an isolated case. It is a larger plan by some schools and some management to convert people…” feels Rao.