Remove ‘Harijan’ from names, edu dept tells schools

BIKANER: After a year-long exercise to remove the ‘unconstitutional’ Harijan word from the names and addresses of government schools, there are at least 62 schools in Rajasthan still carrying the word with their identity.

Now, the education department has ordered the remaining school heads to suggest new descriptions to the government so that the school names can be changed accordingly in the records.

Ten schools in Sikar, 9 each in Alwar and Jhunjhnu, 7 in Bikaner, 5 in Dungarpur, 4 in Sawai Madhopur, 3 in Barmer, 2 in Jaipur and 1 each in Bharatpur, Bhilwara, Bundi, Dausa, Sriganganagar, Tonk, Jalor and Jhalawar districts were identified which are still having the word Harijan in their names.

During the preparation for the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi last year, the state government noticed that several institutions had the word Harijan i n t heir names or addresses.

Rajasthan’s education department has ordered government schools in September, 2019, to remove the word ‘Harijan’ from their addresses, saying the use of the word is “unconstitutional”.

The government observed that many government secondary and higher secondary schools in the state run in Harijan Basti or Harijan Mohalla and still have these words in their names.

According to the latter, issued by additional director of elementary education, the government has asked the education directorate to resubmit the proposals of change in name of such schools still having the word Harijan in their description.

Director of Secondary Education Sourabh Swami said that during a random search on the departmental portal, the directorate identified about 62 schools that are still having ‘Harijan’ in the name or address.

“We have asked district education officers to identify more schools, if any, in their respective districts and suggest a revised description to the government so that the school names can be changed in the records,” he said.

The word is generally used by schools that are situated in areas where the population of scheduled castes is high and was declared derogatory through a notification by the Government of India. ‘Harijan’, meaning children of God, was first used by Mahatma Gandhi to refer to Dalits in 1932. However, the Supreme Court in 2017 said the use of the word was ‘abusive’.