Rights panel sends notice to MCD school for seating students on religious basis

The Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights on Wednesday directed the head of a municipal school to produce by October 25 the procedure followed in assigning sections to students, after a news report said that the school seated Hindus and Muslims in separate sections.

"The HoS (head of school) is directed to cause the production of the following information: the composition of classes before and after the reshuffling of classes in July, along with the attendance record of the last six months as evidence; the procedure followed by the school to assign sections to students; reasons for occurrence of this situation where shuffling happened in a manner that students of different religions were assigned different sections," the DCPCR notice said.

It also recommended the NDMC Education Director to "constitute a committee to investigate the matter further and furnish before the Commission the details and sequence of events that took place which led to the said situation".

The DCPCR also ordered that steps be taken to prevent a repeat of such a situation.

The Indian Express on Wednesday reported that some teachers employed by the North Delhi Municipal Corporation have alleged that a primary school in Wazirabad was segregating Hindu and Muslim students into different sections.

According to the attendance records of the school, the report claimed that as of October 9, the section-wise break up of students were: Class IA: 36 Hindus, IB: 36 Muslims; IIA: 47 Hindus, IIB: 26 Muslims and 15 Hindus, IIC: 40 Muslims; IIIA: 40 Hindus, IIIB: 23 Hindus and 11 Muslims, IIIC: 40 Muslims, IIID: 14 Hindus and 23 Muslims; IVA: 40 Hindus, IVB: 19 Hindus and 13 Muslims, IVC: 35 Muslims, IVD: 11 Hindus and 24 Muslims; VA: 45 Hindus, VB: 49 Hindus, VC: 39 Muslims and 2 Hindus, VD: 47 Muslims.

Delhi Education Minister Manish Sisodia has also sought a report by Friday.

"The act of dividing students on the basis of religion is the biggest conspiracy against the Constitution of the country by the BJP-governed MCD. I have ordered the Education Department to submit a report on the same by Friday," Sisodia said in a tweet in Hindi.

--IANS

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