‘Clarence High School never discriminates against non-Christians’

I was deeply saddened when my 104-year-old alma mater, Clarence High School, was embroiled in an unnecessary controversy recently. Right-wing Hindutva organisations have alleged that the school is imposing Bible classes on nonChristian students and trying to convert them. This is a baseless allegation, I must say.

I passed out from the school in 1988 and I still cherish the love and affection of my teachers. The school never discriminated against non-Christian students.

I was part of the school choir that sang hymns at the assembly and at inter-school competitions, but nothing was forced upon me.

We carried the Bible and hymn books to the daily morning assembly where we read holy verses. It gave us motivational and moral messages. My classmates who are all doing extremely well, both personally and professionally, all came from different cultures, but at school, we were all treated as one.

So I believe using a scripture book to promote morals and ethical values should not be considered as forcefully alluring students towards one particular religion. The school is a sacred space and it should be kept away from all such controversies. Moral education in any minority or institutions run by religious sects cannot be considered as forced religious education.

The Alumni Association of the school is a strongly-knit group with over 2,000 members of various faiths. This by itself is a testimony to the impartial and fair standards of the school.

The school management recently clarified that it does not teach the Bible as a subject, but rather teaches moral education class using stories from the Bible.

Many parents too have questioned the government on why it should object to the school’s undertaking on the Bible, when it is planning to introduce the Bhagavad Gita, Ramayana and Mahabharata in moral science books.

This by itself is a testimony to the impartial and fair standards of the school.

(Dr Vasundhara Priyadarshini is an assistant professor at the Department of Communication at Bangalore University. As told to Rithu Dravid.)