It is in our schools that we imbibe the significance of our respected national anthem of India and all maneuvers related to it. The way we have to recite it, the way we have to behave while singing it, or even the way we have to act while it’s being played anywhere, every little thing is taught to us by our teachers at school. Did you know that it takes just 52 seconds to complete the entire Jana Gana Mana. But along with this you will also be surprised to know that there is one school in Allahabad city of Uttar Pradesh where singing the national anthem has not been allowed for past 12 years. The administrators there have allegedly deemed it as “un-islamic” and thus were never seen encouraging its students to sing it.
The news is that same school has now been shut down with its manager arrested. Several teachers of this school protested and then resigned the school as the manager rejected their requests to allow singing of the national anthem on this Independence Day.
MA Convent School is the school’s name and Zia-Ul Haq, the manager of this school has been arrested under a law against “Insults to National Honour”. Not only this, the manager also has accusations against him for running the school illegally. It was prior to his arrest last night when Mr Haq told the media, “I didnt allow the anthem keeping in mind the views of Muslim parents. Muslims believe that the Almighty is the lord of everyone, including all Indians. Even the Supreme Court has said that a person is free to not sing the national anthem if any part of the anthem is against his or her religion.” Now we believe here is where MR Haq the manager is wrong .It is true that there is no such condition of law which compels us to sing the national anthem. It is also not considered insolent to the anthem or to the nation if any person chooses only to stand up in respectful silence. But it is aligning the anthem with a particular religious beliefs and enforcing the same restricted thinking over others to follow it is what is incorrect.
Andre Vamsi, a senior district official, stated that “Mr Haqs statements were causing “tension in society” and police complaints have been filed against him.” An example of his statements can be this when Mr Haq told the school teachers that “it is unacceptable for Muslim students to sing the wordsBharat Bhagya Vidhata – which he interpreted as “India is the lord of its people” – as only God is the lord.”
Ritu Tripathi, Principal of MA Convent School told the media “Most of us have not been working here for a very long time. We were shocked to learn that the school has never allowed the singing of national anthem in the last 12 years. We were asked to fall in line or leave, so we chose a decision based on our conscience.”
Yadav, an education official in Allahabad stated, “We had sent its management a notice to close the institution about a week ago. We are surprised to learn that the school is still running.” Regarding this the state’s education officials say that investigations related to schools functioning without any permission up till now are have started. After all it’s been more than a decade that this school is running illegally.
MA Conven School has around 300 students from nursery to Class 8 and we hope soon a rectifying decision is taken in this case of banning national anthem in UP School, so that these innocent children do not suffer anymore.
