Videos of students offering namaz in schools go viral

Hans News Service Puttur (Dakshina Kannada dist): Even as the hijab issue continues to roil the State, a video has emerged showing students performing Friday namaz in their classroom. The incident happened in Ankatadka village panchayat in Kadaba taluk, 20 km from Puttur in Dakshina Kannada district.

The School Development and Management Committee (SDMC) president, Praveen found out that for the last three weeks in the midst of raging controversy over wearing of hijab in educational institutions, a few students had been offering namaz in their classrooms.

When asked to explain their act, the students, barely 13-14 years old, told Praveen and the headteacher that their parents had asked them to offer namaz in school. About a month back a few elders from the community had approached the SDMC and the headteacher to allow their children to offer namaz, to which Praveen told them that they could pick up the children after taking permission of the teachers and bring them back to school after namaz.

"We were under the impression that they would come and pick up the children, as the mosque is located about 100 metres from school. Since the children were required to cross a busy road we were worried about their safety and asked the parents to escort them to the mosque and back. But that did not happen. Instead, we have learnt that the students were offering namaz inside the school to the dismay of the other students and parents," Praveen said.

The SDMC has called for a meeting of the parents and teachers on Sunday, "We hope to find a solution to this," Praveen said.

In a similar incident in Bagalkote district, at least six students were seen performing namaz at a school.

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

The principal of the school told reporters in Ilkal that the students were directed not to perform namaz on the campus.

"There are 232 students in the school. At the time of serving lunch, four students, means four girls from sixth standard, without my knowledge or any teacher, performed namaz. Hence, today we told them not to do namaz and if at all you want, you do it at home," she said.

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.