National anthem was never sung in Pilibhit school, finds inquiry

Read | Their headmaster suspended for Iqbal poem, students walk out

On October 14, the administration had suspended Ali after local VHP members complained that he made students recite a religious prayer at the morning assembly. They had alleged that the particular prayer is recited in madrasas.

But, an inquiry by Bisalpur’s Block Education Officer (BEO), Upendra Kumar, had found that Ali made students recite the poem ‘lab pe aati hai dua’, written in 1902 by the poet Muhammad Iqbal, who also wrote ‘sare jahan se accha’.

At the government primary school in Pilibhit.

According to a statement issued by district administration, the report stated that during conversations with children, it was found that the national anthem and the prescribed prayer “woh shakti humein do dayanidhi” was never sung at the school. “The children said that they were never made to sing the national anthem or the prescribed poem after they recited ‘lab pe aati hai dua’. The new teachers have been making the children recite the national anthem and the other prayer in the last two or three days,” said the statement. It said that on the day the probe was conducted, 53 out of total 267 students were present.

Furqan Ali’s was suspended on October 14.

The statement said the quality of education was found to be “unsatisfactory”. “When students of Class V were told to write some simple English and Hindi words, they could not. They said that they were only imparted lessons orally. None of the students could tell the name of the president, prime minister and chief minister. Students of Class V could not write words like ‘gyan prakash” or “Hindustan”. The students lacked discipline,” the statement said.