UP: Kanpur school 'forces' students of all religions to recite 'Kalma' for 'equality'; faces massive backlash

New Delhi: A private school in Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur has been reportedly teaching ‘Kalma’, an Islamic oath of allegiance, to Hindu students. The issue came to fore when parents informed the police that their children studying in Florets International School were allegedly being forced to recite Islamic prayer during morning prayer. Parents staged demonstration and lodged a complaint with the police which intervened into the matter and asked the school to stop the practice of reciting ‘Kalma’ as part of the morning prayers. “My wife informed me about our son reciting Islamic prayer fluently. Upon being questioned, he said he learnt it at school,” a father of a student studying in Florets International School, Kanpur told news agency ANI. He further said that he went to school but admin refused to stop it. “I then created WhatsApp group and informed the people along with those from BJP,” the father said. According to a report by news agency IANS, the practice of reciting ‘Kalma’ during morning prayers has been followed for over a decade. Right-wing activists alleged that the school has been forcing religion on students. “A matter came to the light, that students were made to recite some lines from Islam religion in a school. We talked to school administration, they told that they recited prayers of all religions. Since objection was raised, they stopped doing it,” ANI quoted Nishank Sharma, ACP, Kanpur as saying. The senior cop further said that the District Magistrate and local police have been notified and that a team of police visited the school to investigate the matter on 1 August. An inquiry has been ordered into the matter based on the investigation report of the police. What is the Kanpur school saying in its defence? The school principal said that there are prayers from all religions - Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism and Christianity. “As parents objected to Islamic prayer, we have stopped it and only national anthem is being sung during morning prayers,” she said. The principal further clarified that, “There is surely no intention of promoting any one religion. The school diary has verses of all major religions including Hindu, Sikhism, Christianity, Islam etc written in it.” A news18.com report mentioned the school saying, “As a practice, reciting verses from different religions was started as a practice to give equal respect to all religions. Now all of a sudden a group of Hindu radicals and some parents opposed it.” Established in 2003, the school in Kanpur has a ritual of reciting the Gayatri mantra which is part of Hinduism, Gurubani which is part of Sikhism, and Islamic verse, and other religious verses in the morning assembly. With inputs from agencies