A prominent body that represents private schools in Karnataka has sent out an advisory asking schools to explore the possibility of live-streaming the Ram temple consecration on January 22 and not to declare a holiday.
D. Shashi Kumar, general secretary of the Associated Managements of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka, has issued an “advisory” to 4,000-odd schools, amid calls by some BJP leaders and Sangh Parivar outfits for a public holiday on Monday.
The organisation represents schools that follow the state syllabus, ICSE and CBSE in Kannada and English medium.
Kumar, however, downplayed the nature of the “advisory” and said it was only to prevent schools from declaring a holiday, in line with the demand from some quarters.
Yashpal Suvarna, the BJP MLA from Udupi and the face of last year’s agitation against hijab in schools, was the first to demand a public holiday to mark the consecration. Kumar said live-streaming was better than “wasting” an entire day of classes.
“We are at the fag end of the academic year and preparatory exams will be held from now on. So declaring a holiday is tantamount to wasting a day of classes since no student is going to sit and watch the consecration at home,” he told The Telegraph on Thursday.
When asked about the sensitive nature of his advisory considering Muslim and Christian students would also be forced to watch the event, he said no one should be forced. “All I have suggested is that schools could use existing facilities, which could be a television screen, projector connected to a laptop or even a mobile phone, to screen the event for an hour or so. That way they can save the rest of the day and conduct regular classes.”
He equated the consecration to any other event such as Krishna Janmashtami, Ganapathi Chathurthi, Christmas, Independence Day or Republic Day. “Don’t we celebrate these days of national and religious importance in schools? My only aim is to avoid a holiday that would force schools to hold compensatory classes.”
“Schools should stay away from politics and focus on the betterment of their students,” Kumar replied when asked about the consecration itself being caught in a whirlpool of politics, as Opposition parties accuse the BJP of inaugurating an under-construction temple ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
A teacher at a private school in Bangalore termed it an unnecessary advisory since it would pave the way for similar demands by other communities.
“Schools live-streaming the event would be setting a wrong precedent since other communities would come up with similar demands in the future,” cautioned the teacher, who declined to be named.
