Row Over Kalma Recitation In UP School Assembly, Probe Ordered

Senior officials of the Uttar Pradesh Police and administration reached Kanpur's Florets International school early Monday morning after the news of children being taught Kalma there went viral.

A complaint was filed against the private school for allegedly teaching 'Kalma' to Hindu students.

The case gained momentum after a video of a tweet went viral on Sunday.

In the clarification given by the school management to the police, it claimed that prayers of all four religions were recited at the school during the morning assembly to boost the "Sarva Dharma Samman" ideology.

Ankita Yadav, Principal of Florets International School said, "We have prayers for all four religions. We want to teach the students that all religions are equal. But now we are getting into issues over it and from Saturday itself we have taken action against this. From today we have stopped reciting these prayers and started only national anthem for assembly."

"The school students recite prayers of four religions - Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and Christian - for the last 12-13 years. No one ever objected. An objection was raised about this from a parent's side four days ago," she added.

A parent said, "My son studies here. For the last few days, my son was reciting the kalma at home. My wife raised concern about it. When we spoke to our son, he said that every day after prayer the school teaches it to them. My concern is why should my son read this? What if he disapproves of his own religion after some days?"

Meanwhile, based on the investigation report of the police, an inquiry has been ordered into the matter.

ACP Nishank Sharma said, "We came to know about Kalma being taught to students at the Florets International school through a tweet. The DM and local police have also been notified. Today we visited the school to investigate the matter."

"The school authorities after the objection decided that only the national anthem will be recited during the assembly. They have stopped all the other prayers," added the ACP.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)