Principal suspended after Muslim girl allege discrimination

The principal of a church-run school in Alappuzha District, Kerala was suspended for issuing a Transfer Certificate to a Muslim student who insisted on wearing a headscarf.

The decision to suspend principal Mary Jessintha was taken by the management of Believers Church English Medium School, Gurupuram, after protests erupted over Nabala, a Class 10 student, expelled from the school for wearing a veil.

Nabala's father Nazir Musaliar, an imam at a local mosque, said the principal's act was discriminatory and against the fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution.

Despite the school agreeing to take back the student, Musaliar said he would not send his daughter to the same school. He told reporters that the principal must be booked and jailed. "If they do not do it, we will file a case in the court and see that she gets punishment," he said.

The District Collector P Venugopal has ordered an inquiry into the incident which now seems to have snowballed into a controversy. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has sought a clarification on the girl's expulsion while the State Human Rights Commission has registered a case against the school authorities.

Believers Church state secretary Fr Williams says the management of the school does not have any role in the incident. "There is no ban on headscarf or for any other religious customs in any of our institutions where students from various religions are studying," he said.

"The church would cooperate with any probe by the government," he added.

Meanwhile, Lebi Philip Mathew, PRO of the Church, said there was no basis to the charge that the school had been religiously discriminating against students.

He said it was the girl's parents who insisted that the reason for giving the Transfer Certificate be shown as "headscarf not allowed in the school."

"We have 150 Muslim students, many of whom attend classes with headscarf. We have not objected to it. In this particular context, it is difficult to understand the provocation. This appears to be an attempt to tarnish the institution," he told PTI.

Several political parties and Muslim organisations have taken out to the streets in protest against the school.