The suspension of two government school teachers and disciplinary action against the third on charges of involvement in religious conversion in Rajasthan’s Kota district at the behest of Education Minister Madan Dilawar has sparked a controversy. The teachers’ groups have said the action has been taken arbitrarily before the conclusion of an inquiry.
Mr. Dilawar ordered action against the teachers, posted at the Government Senior Secondary School in Khajuri Odpur village of Sangod block, after a local group, Sarva Hindu Samaj, submitted a memorandum to him at a public hearing programme. The memorandum alleged that the teachers were forcing the students to convert and had linked with the banned terror outfits.
The Sarva Hindu Samaj also claimed that a Hindu girl, named as Muslim in the school’s records in 2019, was kidnapped by some Muslim students earlier this year and was still untraceable. A case was registered in this connection at Sangod police station, but no action had been taken, it said, adding that the students were being coerced into observing Islamic rituals in the school.
Teachers Firoze Khan and Mirza Mujahid were suspended in the orders issued by the Chief District Education Officer on Thursday, while disciplinary proceedings were initiated against Shabana. Mr. Dilawar said in a video message that the facts about religious conversion and Hindu girls being forced to offer namaz (Islamic prayer) had been brought to his notice.
All the three teachers have been ordered to report at the Directorate of Education, Bikaner, during the period of their suspension and disciplinary proceedings. Mr. Dilawar said he would not allow the government schools to become the “dens of conversion” and would dismiss the teachers from service based on further investigation.
The teachers’ groups have raised concern about the action taken with haste in the matter. Urdu Shikshak Sangh president Amin Kayamkhani said the suspension order had been passed in an arbitrary manner before the conclusion of a departmental inquiry. Rajasthan Muslim Forum’s general secretary Mohammed Nazimuddin said the BJP government had taken the action for causing polarisation in the society in the run-up to the Lok Sabha election.
