Delhi govt sends school notice for alleged BJP diktat
NEW DELHI: A day after reports that Ryan International Schools in Delhi were forcing students, parents and teachers to become Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members, Delhi education minister Manish Sisodia directed the department of education to issue a showcause notice to the school.
A deputy director of education has been asked to conduct an inquiry into the entire incident.
The chain of schools has been given three days to reply.
The department will send an advisory to all schools of the national capital to desist from any kind of political activity and not to indulge in forcible membership of any political outfit.
A report published in a newspaper on Wednesday said the schools were forcing teachers to ensure a minimum number of new party members by calling on a toll-free number.
The school chief coordinating officer, however, refuted all allegations.
“There is absolutely no basis for these allegations and we categorically deny them. The school has been working very hard to participate in the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and the only instruction was to participate fully in this. No salaries were withheld and no circulars distributed. We run over 125 schools in the country and have a big workforce. Forcing all of them to become members AN NSUI STATEMENT
of a particular political party is laughable,” said Neti Srinivasan, chief operations officer, Ryan group of schools.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) criticized the school for the alleged incident.
“The incident reported from Ryan International School is part of the BJP’s design to saffronize the education system in India and the AAP condemns such moves. With the exposure of the false and ill-motivated membership drive of BJP through educational institutions, the true face of the BJP’s membership numbers have also been exposed,” a statement issued by the party said.
The National Students Union of India, Congress’s student wing, also condemned the alleged incident. “It is highly deplorable that the school management resorted to blatant abuse of power by not giving salaries to staff and teachers who didn’t enroll as members,” a statement issued by the body said.