Goa: School Principal Suspended For Taking Students To Mosque For A Workshop To 'Promote Communal Harmony'

The principal of a private school in South Goa was suspended following a police complaint claiming that he allegedly took students to a mosque for a workshop and forced them to wear hijab and perform other religious rituals. 

The "educational workshop" was conducted on Saturday wherein students were taken to a mosque in Dabolim on the invitation of the Student Islamic Organisation of India (SIO). However, members of Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) lodged a police complaint against the school principal for “supporting anti-national activities”, claiming that the said workshop had been organised on the invite of an organisation affiliated to banned Popular Front of India.

While an official statement is awaited from the school management, the school principal said that they have organised similar visits of students to temples, churches and mosques in the past as well, to promote communal harmony. "Children from all the faiths study at the school. Some students from another school had also visited the mosque. I do not know why I have been suspended,” principal Shankar Gaonkar told the Indian Express. 

State president, Jammat-e-Islami Hind, parent body of SIO, Goa zone, which had organised the workshop, said that such activities are routine and events at the mosque have been an annual feature. The VHP however, alleged that it was part of a conspiracy to “brainwash young children and an attempt to carry out religious conversions”, as per the report.

The management is expected to submit its explanation to the Education Department soon.