New Delhi: The Shaheen Urdu Primary School in north Karnataka’s Bidar, which made headlines for staging an allegedly seditious play, has been converted into a quarantine centre that can accommodate more than 400 people.
Dr Thouseef Madikeri, CEO of the Shaheen Group, told ThePrint that the Bidar district administration had contacted them on 12 April requesting the school premises as a quarantine centre for primary contacts of Covid-19 patients.
“The district administration called our founder Dr Abdul Qadeer on 12 April requesting our school space to keep these people. They were previously staying in a Backward Class Minority (BCM) hostel, but since it is in a residential area, locals started complaining and they had to shift them out. On 13 April, they got 130 people, and later on, again 63 others,” said Madikeri.
The school, located at Shahpur Gate on the city outskirts, has 60 rooms with eight beds each. Of these, 193 beds have been occupied.
“We try to provide them with as much as possible. Food and other essentials, including masks and gloves are taken care of by us. We have some sugar (diabetes) patients as well who are provided with all the medicines they need. There is also a WiFi facility that they can use,” the CEO said, adding that all expenses were being funded by Dr Qadeer.
The premises earlier housed about 225 students from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, who were moved to another campus of the school in the city. Madikeri said all three campuses, located at Shahpur Gate, Mailoor, and Golekhana, are sanitised everyday.
“Since Shahpur Gate campus is not in the city and isn’t in a residential area, we moved the students out of here and made this campus into a quarantine centre,” the CEO said.
The school came under the spotlight in January when a social worker filed a complaint against a play that was staged by students of Classes 4, 5 and 6 on 21 January. The issue led to the school’s headmistress and a parent being arrested on charges of sedition. An FIR was filed claiming the play portrayed Prime Minister Narendra Modi in poor light over the Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens.
“The case is still in court and the FIR against the school management also includes the name of our founder and the primary school headmistress,” Madikeri said, adding that they no longer receive daily police visits on the matter.
Also read: Karnataka anti-CAA school play: Should children not participate in political movements?