Muslim Students with Mehendi during Eid ‘Banned’ in Silas school!
Udupi: An ICSE Syllabus school has restricted its students, the traditional Indian practice of applying Mehendi on the palm during Ramadan festival.
According to sources, Silas International School Hanumanthanagar near Udupi informed all the Muslim parents that applying Mehendi is strictly not allowed in the school during the Eid festival.
A parent of the school said, “According to our tradition Mehendi is part of our culture. But School authorities have instructed through the SMS to all Muslim Parents saying, “Dear Parent, 26th June 2017, Monday will be a holiday on account of Eid. Please note Mehendi is strictly not allowed. A fine of Rs 300/- will be charged for those who do.”
He added, “No doubt, we are not against discipline and we neither want our children to be indisciplined, but how can the application of Mehendi that is associated with Indian tradition be equated with indiscipline.”
The principal of the school, Deidra S Maben speaking to Mangalorean.com said that we had asked the students not to apply Mehendi is true, but it is not only for Muslim students but applicable for all the students. We had given strict instructions to all the students beginning of the academic year and it is mentioned in the school diary. If any student wants to apply Mehendi for functions, their parents need to give in written and we allow. The instruction is simply to ensure discipline, and all the parents are aware on that, she added.
SIO district president Shoyeb Malpe and Udupi district Sunni Samyuktha Jamath secretary Abdul Rehman Razwi condemned the attitude of the school authorities and alleged that earlier some school had banned the burqa, now they are trying to ban applying Mehendi. Eid is one occasion to our children to celebrate the festival by applying Mehendi on the palm. School authorities should allow applying Mehendi on the palm during Ramadan festival, they demanded.
When Mangalorean.com contacted other schools about their rules on applying Mehandi, Fr Anil D’Costa principal of Trinity School Perampalli said that we are not against applying Mehendi on the palm but we have informed all the students and parents during the first day of school that applying Mehendi is not allowed. During the festival time, students are applying Mehendi, many students of our school have also applied Mehendi for which we do not charge any fine. Mehendi is our tradition and we always respect it, we too celebrate festivals of all religions like Deepavali, Ramzan, Christmas in our school, he added.