Principal of private school in Kutch suspended as video shows students in skullcaps during play on Eid
Eid-al-Adha, one of the biggest festivals in Islam, was celebrated on Thursday.
4 min read
A screengrab from the purported video. Express The principal of a private school on the outskirts of the port town of Mundra was suspended on Friday after a purported video of students — wearing skull caps while staging a play on Eid-al-Adha — was widely shared on social media. Following the move, District Primary Education Officer Sanjay Parmar told The Indian Expres that it was a “heen krutya (lowly act)” to “ask Hindu students to wear skullcaps worn by Muslims”.
Priti Vaswani, Principal of Pearl School of Excellence and Value Education in Mangra village, was suspended by the school administration. The purported clip captures moments of the students performing during a play on Bakrid.
While some of them could be seen wearing skullcaps, others had their heads covered with handkerchiefs. The video showed them offering prayers, and exchanging greetings as one of them talked about the festival.
District development officer (DDO) of Kutch told reporters in Bhuj the school owner was contacted, and instructed to suspend the principal. “As per the information we received about the video, there is a primary school called Pearl School in Mundra taluka. We have come to know about the video of the celebration of Eid in the school. I brought this to the notice of the District Primary Education Officer (DPEO), who is also in-charge district education officer.”
“In turn, he immediately sent the team of taluka education officers. So, we will get a detailed report. Besides that, we also immediately contacted the person who runs the school and gave instructions to suspend the principal of that school forthwith,” SK Prajapati, District Development Officer (DDO) of Kutch, said.
Meanwhile, Sanjay Parmar, DPEO of Kutch, told The Indian Express on Friday evening, “After we came to know about the purported video at around 11 am on Friday, we asked Mr Abbasi, the owner of the school, to suspend the principal. Accordingly, the Trust has suspended Priti Vaswani and has reported the same to us,” the DPEO said.
When asked if the school had violated any specific rule in this regard, the DPEO said, “The school has Muslims and Hindu students. But if the school asks Hindu students to put on skullcaps worn by Muslims, it’s a heen krutya (lowly act).”
The officer, however, added his office had not received any complaints from students of the school or their parents till Friday evening in this regard.
Eid-al-Adha, one of the biggest festivals in Islam, was celebrated on Thursday.
A holiday was observed in primary schools run by the state government and private ones recognised by the Director of Primary Education in the state’s Education Department; and also in secondary and higher secondary schools affiliated to the Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board (GSEB).
Pearl School is a co-education school run by Vishwas Education Trust, a charitable organisation having its office in Adipur in Gandhidham taluka of Kutch. The school offers primary and secondary education.
As per its website, Pearl School is affiliated with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).
However, the Gujarat government exercises some control over schools affiliated with boards other than GSEB. While Abu Sahban Abbasi, owner of the school, could not be reached for a comment, Vaswani told The Indian Express she would share her response later.
In a video statement posted on a social media account of the school on Friday and addressed to parents of students, Vaswani said she was tendering an apology if the “Eid celebration-related activity” in the school that was conducted on Wednesday had hurt anyone’s feelings.
“On June 28, Wednesday, we organised an Eid-related activity. That has hurt the feelings of some parents and organisations. It was not our intention at all to hurt or harm anyone. We had done it merely for the festival. Nonetheless, if anyone has been inconvenienced or their feelings have been hurt, I apologise for that and say sorry and assure you that from now on, no activity or competition shall be organised to hurt feelings of any organisation or parents,” Vaswani said in her statement.
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