'I'm a Single Mother, Need My Daughter to Study': Damoh School Kids in a Lurch

At the centre of the hijab poster controversy, students of Ganga Jamna school in Damoh face an uncertain future.

Damoh School hijab poster controversy, Madhya Pradesh

(Photo: The Quint)

"My daughter does not have a father so I want her to get education and make something of her life. I cannot afford her education. She was getting it for free at Ganga Jamna school. If she studies well in an English medium school, she will get better job opportunities and earn better. You know how it is with girls growing up without a father," said Shireen Bano (35), whose daughter Shehnaz (12) should have been in class 8 at the Ganga Jamna School in Madhya Pradesh's Damoh this week.

Instead, Shireen is worried about her daughter's future with the unexpected closing of the school following a controversy over a poster showing non-Muslim girls wearing a headscarf.

Estranged from her in-laws after the death of her husband, Shireen runs a small shop selling bangles and hosiery to afford to educate her three children. Her two younger sons, Sahil (12) and Ahil (10) are enrolled in an Urdu medium government school.

Like Shehnaz, the parents of 1,206 students of the school have been plunged into uncertainty following allegations of forcing hijab on girl students, alleged attempts at religious conversion, arrest of the school principal Afsha Sheikh and two others, and demolition action on parts of the school building citing lack of necessary clearances.

Click here for the full background and the timeline of the controversy

• 27 May: The controversy erupted after a poster of students who aced class 10 exams was put up outside the school. The poster showed both Muslim and Hindu girl students wearing a hijab. The poster went viral on social media the next day.

• 30 May: The district authorities, as per instructions by District Education Officer (DEO) SK Mishra, inspected the school and gave it a clean chit for any alleged 'wrongdoing'.

• 31 May: Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra ordered a probe into the controversy around the poster.

• 1 June: Hindu outfits protested to demand that the district collector (DC) initiate a high-level inquiry.

• 2 June: The DC set up a probe committee and derecognised the school. The same day, chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan referred to Urdu poet-philosopher Iqbal, alleged that the school administration was “teaching poetry of a man who talked about the division of the country” and warned that “such acts won’t be allowed in Madhya Pradesh”.

• 3 June: Chouhan ordered for SDM and CSP rank officials to be included in the probe committee.

• 4 June: The state's child protection and welfare committee officials visited the school and confiscated all documents.

• 5 June: Allegations of religious conversion of students picked pace

• 7 June: The police filed a case and registered an FIR based on the versions of three students against 11 members of the school's management. The same day, local BJP leaders took to protests and threw ink at DEO SK Mishra.

• 9 June: Mishra was transferred and replaced by SK Nema.

• 10 June: School principal Afsha Sheikh, a mathematics teacher Anas Atahar, and security guard Rustam Ali were arrested and produced before a local court and sent to judicial custody.

• 11 June: The Chief Municipal Officer (CMO) served a notice to the school over allegedly constructing parts of the school without permission and asked them to produce relevant documents.

• 13 June: Demolition of parts of the school began after the management could not provide necessary clearances, the CMO said.

• 14 June: Bail plea of the three accused was rejected by a special juvenile justice court.

'Cannot Afford Private English Medium Schools'

Like Shehnaz, most students in the school from across faiths, come from underprivileged families. The school being the only English medium school in the Futera ward of Damoh, most parents are now struggling to get their children admitted to other schools.

"Shehnaz has been in this school since the beginning and has always studied all subjects in English. Most government schools here are Hindi medium so we can't enroll her there," Shireen said.

"My husband died in a car accident in 2012. After his death, they waived off her tuition fee till class 12 given our circumstances," Shireen added.

Mahmood Khan (37), a labourer whose son Alfaiz Raza (12) also studied at the school, has similar concerns.

"I am a daily wage labourer, I will not be able to afford any other English medium school for my son. Even if we try to enroll him in a government school nearby, you know how difficult it is to get in there. The private English medium schools charge at least 45,000-50,000 per year. Please make our voices heard so that somebody helps us. We have not been told anything with certainty by the authorities or the school management so far," Khan said.

Khan paid Rs 9,600 as the yearly fees for Alfaiz in the previous academic year.

'No Hindu Parents Ever Raised Any Issues At School Meetings'

Mahmood Khan alleged that fear is being created in the minds of the people in order to defame the school and "ensure that children of poor Muslim families are deprived of education."

"We never heard of any wrong teachings at the school. No parents raised any issue at the parents' meetings held at the school every month either. Those meetings would have parents of children from all faiths but nobody ever raised any issues or objections. Only after the hijab poster issue, this controversy flared," Khan said.

"There were no Islamic teachings at the school. My son didn't know anything about The Holy Quran. We have hired a private tutor at home for that. It was not taught in the school. They don't even teach kalma there. Urdu was just taught as a language," Khan added.

Like Shireen, several parents and sources who The Quint spoke to pointed out how the school has taken into consideration the financial distress of several families through the years.

"The management would waive off the fees of so many students from all religions, not just of Muslims. I took ill last year and could not work for six months. I went to the school to get my son derolled since I could not afford the fees, but the management took it upon themselves and waived the fee for the remaining year. They had waived my son's fee during the COVID-19 pandemic too. They said that it's the question of the children's future," Mahmood Khan said.

"My niece also studies in the same school. Her father got a life sentence in a case, following which we went to get her derolled from the school. But they waived off her fee till class 12," he said.

'Students Don't Need to Worry': District Education Officer

After the poster row picked pace, former Damoh District Education Officer (DEO) SK Mishra had launched an inspection and given the school a clean chit on 30 May. Amid the row, right wing groups protesting against the school threw ink at Mishra on 7 June for giving the clean chit. Two days later on 9 June, Mishra was transferred and was replaced by SK Nema as the new DEO.

"The school has been derecognised temporarily, not permanently. Even if it gets derecognised permanently, the DEO's office will provide help in getting the students enrolled in other schools," Nema said.

Asked if the children will be reinstated in the same school, Nema said that "both options can be available" but nothing can be said with certainty as of now.

Nema said that if lack of enough English medium schools in the vicinity is a problem, there are provisions in place for creating English medium sections in the existing Hindi medium government schools to enroll the distressed students.

"The families don't need to worry. The new academic year has not begun fully. I assure that there will be a resolution for the students by July," Nema said.

While the DEO's office has assured assistance, there is no clear timeline in place for the same yet.

"I am both the father and the mother for my daughter. I only want the authorities to help me get her enrolled somewhere," Shireen said.

(With inputs from Imityaz Chisti).