School Bans Student from Wearing Ayyappa Scarf

Visakhapatnam: A row has erupted between the management of a private school and activists of VHP and BJP after a teacher sent home a student under Ayyappa Deeksha who came to the class wearing a black scarf.

Though the incident took place on Friday, VHP and BJP activists made an issue of it on Saturday. A video clip of it has gone viral in Visakhapatnam on Sunday.

The school principal had not been present when the incident happened. VHP and BJP activists have given an ultimatum that the principal and teachers must apologise to parents of the student by Monday evening.

Co-convener of state BJP dharmika cell Vijayshankar Phaniharan told this correspondent on Sunday evening that the teacher had acted deliberately to offend Hindu religion by banning the student wearing Ayyappa scarf.

He said on a complaint from the student’s parents, VHP state president Srinivasananda Saraswathi, BJP local leader Ramachandra Murthy and others visited the school on Saturday. They asked teachers to ask the principal to apologise to parents of the student and suspend the teacher, who belongs to a different faith.

Vijayshankar Phaniharan said the teacher is a member of the local church and conducts prayers on Sundays and holidays. “There have also been reports against the teacher about influencing students to convert into their religion,” Phaniharan stated.

When contacted, Visakhapatnam district educational officer L Chandrakala said she is not aware of any such incident happening in Visakhapatnam city.

“There is no GO or guidelines on whether or not to wear any religious dress while attending classes,” she told this correspondent.