‘School tried to portray state govt in bad light’

Kerala's Education Minister urges St Rita’s School to stop politicizing the hijab issue, stating schools should focus on education, not politics.

Continuing the war of words over the hijab row at a Catholic management school in Ernakulam district, Kerala General Education Minister V. Sivankutty on Thursday asked the school officials to refrain from making statements against the State government over the issue.

The minister alleged that the school management of St Rita’s Public School in Palluruthy were trying to politicise the issue through their statements to the media. (PTI)

The minister alleged that the school management of St Rita’s Public School in Palluruthy, particularly the PTA and its legal counsel, were trying to politicise the issue through their statements to the media.

“In their statements, there was a threatening tone against the government. They tried to portray the government and the education department in a bad light without any legal basis. I understand that the issue has been resolved there. Therefore, there was no further need to continue making provocative statements,” the minister said at a press conference in Thiruvananthapuram.

He said that schools must remain as centres of learning, not platforms for political interests. He said that the school’s PTA president and its legal counsel were responding on the issue, instead of the school management.

“The school management is directly challenging the government. No such management has done so. They should not act as if the rules don’t apply to them. The law will take its course,” the minister said.

The minister’s remarks came after the school management indicated that it would move the High Court over the matter. The school principal Sr Heleena had termed the report submitted by the deputy director of education (DDE), finding serious flaws on the part of the school, ‘devoid of facts.’ She had stated that the 2018 High Court verdict granted management of aided schools the right to specify a dress code for students.

The Catholic school had become the centre of a row this week when it was alleged that the officials did not permit a student to wear a hijab during classes. School officials stated that the hijab was not part of the school’s stated dress code and that an exemption could not be granted to one student. Following conciliatory talks on Tuesday, in the presence of Ernakulam MP Hibi Eden, the girl’s father agreed to follow the uniform policy and send his daughter to school without a hijab.