The case relates to a teacher who allegedly made 'anti-Hindu' comments while discussing Rabindranath Tagore’s poem 'Work is Worship'.
Published Feb 20, 2024 | 6:05 PM ⚊ Updated Feb 20, 2024 | 6:05 PM
St Gerosa Higher Primary School in Mangaluru. (Official website)
The Education Department of Karnataka has begun an inquiry into the controversial incidents at St Gerosa School in Mangaluru, where a teacher was removed from her post for her alleged “anti-Hindu” remarks.
Additional Commissioner of the Education Department in Kalaburagi, Akash Shankar IAS, who arrived in Mangaluru on Monday, 19 February, collected preliminary information about the incident from concerned officials.
The case relates to the teacher at the school who allegedly made “anti-Hindu” comments while discussing in class Rabindranath Tagore’s poem Work is Worship.
Shankar told reporters that he had come to conduct a fact-finding inquiry into the incident. Preliminary information had been collected from officials, including the Deputy Director of Public Instruction (DDPI) and Block Education Officer (BEO), he said.
He added that a detailed report would be submitted to the state government following the inquiry. The state government ordered Shankar to probe the incident after a few parents of students at St Gerosa School alleged that the teacher — identified as Sister Prabha — had hurt the religious sentiments of Hindus by making derogatory comments against Lord Ram.
It all started earlier this month at the St Gerosa Convent School in Mangaluru when English teacher Sister Prabha was talking to Class 7 students about the poem Work is Worship, composed by Rabindranath Tagore in 1910.
However, two audio clips began circulating on social media claiming that the teacher had made disparaging comments about Hindu religious practices and political leaders.
On 10 February, four persons — parents of the school’s students — approached Headmistress Sister Anitha with a complaint that Sister Prabha had made some derogatory statements against the Hindu religion and the Prime Minister while teaching the poem.
The headmistress assured them that she would look into the matter and take appropriate action. However, the matter was far from over.
“On 12 February, a subject inspector from the office of the Block Education Officer (BEO), under the state’s Department of Education, and a co-ordinator from the Deputy Director of Public Instruction (DDPI) office visited the school along with other officers,” said Sister Anitha.
“This was followed by the arrival of local MLA Vedavyas Kamath with a group of Hindutva activists who shouted slogans against the school. The management recognised his presence, accorded him due respect, and invited him inside the school,” she added.
“However, he refused to come in and continued to protest against the school and management,” said the headmistress.
The BEO and other Education Department officials reportedly asked the school management to meet the protesting MLA. “When I met him, he asked me to immediately dismiss the teacher, failing which he threatened to intensify the protest,” said the headmistress.
“I told him that I could not remove the teacher without an inquiry, as per the education institution’s rules. However, the mob, led by the MLA, pressured me to remove the teacher with immediate effect,” she added.
“With no other way to go, and to maintain law and order and disperse the mob that was swelling, I was forced to issue a statement removing Sister Prabha from the job. Sister Prabha has a total teaching experience of 16 years, including five years at St Gerosa Convent School. There has been no complaint against her so far,” said Sister Anitha.
The allegations against Sister Prabha were that she told the students that the Mahabharat and Ramayana were “imaginary” and tried to induce “anti-Hindu” feelings among children.
The concerned teacher completely denied all the allegations and told the management that she was just doing her job.
Headmistress Sister Anitha defended her, saying that Sister Prabha did not hurt Hindu religious feelings, and reasserted that the management was forced by Mangaluru South MLA Vedavyas Kamath to remove her from the job.
Sister Anitha said that the teacher explained this while teaching the poem: “Temples, churches, and mosques are only buildings. God dwells in the human hearts. Hence, it is not right to kill human beings in the name of God.”
She added that the teacher told the class, “We need to respect the work and the human beings and see God in them. God doesn’t exist in the structures, but in the human hearts and all of us are temples of God.”
The poem — in Bengali with a rough English translation — can be found at No 11 on the list of a version of Gitanjali currently hosted on a Union government server.
The headmistress asserted that the teacher said she had not spoken anything against any god, but explained to the students the meaning of the poem. “She said she did not hurt Hindu religious sentiments,” said Sister Anitha.
