Patna: Bihar’s education minister Vijay Choudhary has asked for a “status report” on government schools in the state’s Seemanchal area — a Muslim dominated region which includes districts like Kishanganj, Purnea, Araria and Katihar — which remain closed on Fridays instead of Sundays, to allow teachers and students from the Muslim community to attend the jumma ka namaz or Friday prayers.
“I have asked district magistrates (DMs) to submit a report on how and when the practice started,” Choudhary told the media Thursday. The minister and Janata Dal (United) leader did not, however, say anything on rectifying the school holiday.
The issue cropped up in Bihar, after it was raised in neighbouring Jharkhand earlier this month. While the Jharkhand government has changed the holiday to Sunday, in schools which had earlier remained closed on Friday, the BJP wants the same to be done in Bihar.
District authorities of Kishanganj, Purnea, Araria and Katihar meanwhile, appeared to be in the dark on how or when the practice started.
“The practice has been going on for a long time. I have asked the district education officer to submit a report,” Kishanganj DM Shrikant Shastri told the Print.
While the education ministry estimates that the Friday holiday may be a practice in about 500 schools in the area, the exact number will be known only once the district administrations carry out a survey to check this, said an official in the education ministry.
“As far as the government is concerned all government institutions are to be run under the guidelines given to them,” said Deputy CM Tarkishor Prasad.
Meanwhile deputy director of education Chandrashekhar Rai said, “I have not found any letter which states that holidays should be shifted to Friday instead of Sundays,” hinting that the adjustment must have been done at the local level.
While the issue of Friday holidays has created a rift between NDA allies JD(U), BJP and Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) over CM Nitish Kumar’s government’s handling of it, opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has termed it an effort by the BJP to create a “communal divide” in the state.
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Issue first raised in Jharkhand
The issue of schools giving holidays on Friday to facilitate prayers first emerged in neighbouring Jharkhand, where the state government dissolved the managing committees of 43 schools in Jamtara and Dumka districts on 14 July over this.
The Jharkhand government then changed back the school holiday to Sunday in these institutions.
The BJP, an JD(U) ally, is demanding that the Bihar government follows the Jharkhand example in the state.
“This (the Friday holiday) amounts to dividing children on the basis of religion right from school. Tuesday Puja is followed by a large number of people from the Hindu community. Should government schools be closed down on Tuesdays?” asked BJP minister Neeraj Kumar Bablu, stressing that a large number of children and teachers wanted Sunday as the off day.
The issue has led to war of words between the two allies in Bihar.
JD(U) Parliamentary Board chairman Upendra Kushwaha took strong exceptions to the comments made by BJP Rajya Sabha MP Rakesh Sinha earlier this week, who questioned the practice of giving holidays on Fridays instead of Sundays in order to facilitate the Friday prayers.
“Even a country like Turkey (Muslim dominated) does not have Friday holidays and if holidays are given on the basis of religion it will be difficult to run the country,” Sinha had said in Delhi.
Kushwaha in a rejoinder on Twitter accused the BJP leader of trying to create a ruckus out of a non-issue. “The gentleman should know that holidays on Fridays are not given only in schools (dominated by Muslim students), but also in Sanskrit Universities where Holidays are given on Ashtmi’ as per the University calandar,” he remarked.
उर्दू विद्यालयों में छुट्टी: वाकई जरुरी मुद्दा है या अनावश्यक विवाद बनाने की कोशिश..!
छुट्टी पर आपत्ति करने वाले महानुभावों, आप सभी को पता तो होना चाहिए कि शुक्रवार को सिर्फ उर्दू विद्यालयों में ही अवकाश नहीं होता है,…1/2 pic.twitter.com/6O4gbodtPP
— Upendra Kushwaha (@UpendraKushJDU) July 28, 2022
Meanwhile, HAM, a JD(U) and BJP ally, has come out in support of Kushwaha.
“In Jammu and Kashmir schools are closed on Fridays, There has been no controversy over it. Why does the BJP want to make it an issue here,” asked HAM spokesperson Danish Rizwan.
Politics over holidays
The controversy over school holidays comes at a time when the BJP is holding a mega show in Patna and has announced its intention to strengthen its presence in the state, across 200 assembly seats. While deciding the seat sharing formula for the 2020 assembly elections, JD(U) had got 122 seats, while the BJP received 121. By targetting 200 seats now, BJP has indicated that it wants to be prepared for future polls, even without the JD(U).
It also follows the arrest of three alleged activists of the Islamic outfit Popular Front of India (PFI) in Patna earlier this month, for allegedly running a camp to provide combat training to Muslim youths.
Much to the anger of JDU, a section of BJP leaders have dubbed it the “Bihar terror module” and hinted that Nitish Kumar is going soft against Islamic extremism.
Seemanchal is an area where BJP always performs well because of the communal divide. Even in 2019, the NDA won three of four Lok Sabha seats in the area.
Meanwhile, opposition RJD has termed the BJP focus on the issue of Friday holidays an attempt at creating a “communal divide” in the state”.
“The Hijab controversy (over the wearing of Hijab in educational institutions which started in Karnataka earlier this year) did not have any impact on Bihar despite local BJP leaders raising the issue. But they have raised this old practice (of Friday holiday) to sharpen communal divide, What the state should be discussing is the poor schooling standards in Bihar,” remarked RJD’s national vice president Shivanand Tiwari.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
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