Guruvandanam at school creates stir

Thrissur: The Guruvandanam ceremony held at Cherpu CNN Higher Secondary School, one of the biggest in the district, has landed in a controversy with many coming out against it.  They wondered how a government-aided school conduct such a religious event, making students kneel down before teachers touching their feet, in a secular space.

Congress legislator V. T. Balram said it was unacceptable that the pupils were made to kneel down in such a way and touch the feet of their teachers.

"There’s nothing wrong in appreciating the good work of teachers," the young legislator who also sends his child to a government school said sharing the image on his Facebook wall. "But worshipping teachers who were getting salaries and all benefits from the government with flowers and going down on their knees is a feudalistic custom."

With the controversy heating up, the special branch police inquired with the school authorities about the ceremony.

School manager E. Balagopalan said the ceremony was being held there for more than a decade now and it was held for 15 minutes in all classrooms on Friday.

 “Last year, given our 100th-anniversary celebrations, we had invited several well-known persons for Guruvandanam," he said.  "There's no compulsion, and it's not a religious event. On Friday, several parents had come to take part in it.”

The school was taken over by a cooperative from Chittoor Mana at Chepu in 1986. There are more than 100 members in the society now with some having affiliations with RSS and VHP, school officials said. More than 5,000 students are presently studying here.