NEW DELHI/ INDIA: A school in Indias capital has been issued a notice by the education ministry for urging students and teachers to enrol with the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) media reports indicate.
Ryan International School, a top school having various branches in the capital New Delhi and elsewhere around the country has conducted a BJP membership drive forcing its staff to enrol and in instances withholding faculty salaries for failing to do so.
Many students and teachers have complained that they had been asked to register on the BJPs toll free number upon which they would be issued a primary membership number. At the school, this membership number is to be communicated to the management or designated teachers, it is claimed.
The schools Managing Director Grace Pinto who is also the national secretary of the Womens Wing of the BJP confirmed the membership drive but said it was “absolutely voluntary”. “It is sad if the staff has said that they were compelled to take up BJP membership. The management never asked students and parents to join BJP.
However, the Times of India quoted a teacher: “Every staff member, from school gardener to senior teachers, was asked to get 10 members. Forms of the BJP membership were distributed and party’s toll-free number was sent through WhatsApp.”
A senior official at the Education Department said Ryan International school has been asked to file reply to the show cause notice within three days and a probe has already been initiated against it.
Education department officials said focus of its probe was on whether the school authorities had asked staff including the teachers, and students to take BJP membership.
This report comes at a time when the ruling BJP in India is being alleged of not safeguarding religious minority groups following the gang rape of an elderly Christian nun in the state of West Bengal and numerous attacks on churches in different parts of the country. -AC
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