Kerala Government Orders Closure of Private School Which Taught Communal Syllabus

The Kerala government has ordered the closure of Peace International School, Ernakulam, after official investigation found the school guilty of having taught non-secular syllabus.

The order was issued after considering the reports by the District Collector and the Department of Education. The government has directed the students who are currently studying in the school to be shifted to nearby schools.

The school is run by Peace Educational Foundation, with Islamic preacher MM Akbar as its Managing Director. The Foundation runs ten schools in Kerala and one school in Mangalore. It is not yet clear whether the closure order is applicable to the rest of the Peace Schools in Kerala.

The police had seized textbooks which contained content that cause discord between different religious communities from the school in October 2016.

The controversial content was found in the activity portion of the textbook for Std. II students. The "activity" that students were supposed to do was to provide advice to a friend who decided to become Muslim. The books asks students to put the "advice" – with five steps – in the "correct order" and to explain their reason to the class.

Controversial portion of the Std. II textbook taught at Peace International School, Ernakulam. Image courtesy: Azhimukham

The textbook was prepared by Mumbai-based educational trust 'Burooj Realisation', founded by Dawood Vaid. According to reports, a curriculum committee headed by MM Akbar had taken the decision to teach textbooks provided by Burooj Realisation at the Peace International School in Ernakulam.

The report submitted to the government by the District Education Officer said that the syllabus which gives prominence only to one religion and the teaching which foments religious discord is a violation of laws concerning the right to education. The reports of the Director of Public Instruction and the Education Secretary said that the textbooks taught at the school were not the ones suggested by the CBSE, NCERT or the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT).

The police had charged cases against the businessmen who worked as school trustees – Babu Moopan, Noor Shah Kalliyath and Siraj Mather.

Dawood Vaid, the Chairman of Burooj Realisation, Sameed Ahammed Sheikh, who was in charge of selecting pictures, and Sahil Hameed Sayed, designer, were arrested by the police.

The police is continuing the efforts to nab MM Akbar, who fled the country following the initiation of the investigation.