A school in Gujarat has asked its students to write postcard messages to Prime Minister Narendra Modi supporting the Citizenship Amendment Act, leading to a major controversy in the state. Protests from parents of the students who were made to write the messages without consent from home made the school authorities apologise later, stating that it was a “misunderstanding”, it was reported by The Indian Express.
The clearance of the contentious Act from both houses of the Parliament in December 2019 has seen nation-wide protests. The CAA benefits Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Christian and Parsi refugees from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh who sought refuge in India before 2015, but leaves out Muslims and others from these countries as well as Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka, Rohingyas from Myanmar and Buddhist refugees from Tibet.
“Congratulations. I, citizen of India, congratulate honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi for CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act). I and my family support this act.” Students from classes V to X were made to write this message on postcards addressed to the Prime Minister on Tuesday.
An all-girls’ private school, Little Star School, in Ahmedabad – affiliated to the Gujarat Secondary and Higher Education Board was reported to have asked the children to copy the message in class from blackboard. The postcards were addressed to “PMO, South Block, secretariat building, Raisina Hills, New Delhi”, along with their residential address. It was also reported that class X students – who are now appearing for the pre-board internal examinations – were given photocopies of the same message. Those who opposed were allegedly told that unless they agreed to write the message, they would not be given marks for the internal examinations. The school has about 1200 students from Nursery to class X.
A number of parents – who did not want their children to be involved in this – went to the office of the school-trustee-cum-owner on Wednesday and objected to this exercise being undertaken. Some were quoted saying they did not want their residential addresses to be made part of the letters, nor had to school asked for parents’ consent before asking children to write the message that also involved the families.
Thereafter, the school authorities apologised to the parents and said that it was a “misunderstanding”. The postcards were returned to the parents, some of who tore up the postcards as a mark of protest, the report said. The school management has said that this was not done under the influence of any political party, but by some teachers who had done it without the knowledge of the higher authorities. He said that the matter had been “sorted out”.
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