Nagpur: Though hundreds of women are fighting for their rights, the right to education of over 300 Muslim students from their community are getting violated for the last three days at Teka Naka’s Farooq Nagar ground where a Shaheen Bagh-style protest is underway.
The all-women teachers have been unable to teach because of daylong speeches, songs and sloganeering at the venue which faces the Nagpur Municipal Corporation’s (NMC) Azad Nagar Urdu Primary School. The school administration says it was unable to object as the secretary himself is one of the organizers.
The school runs from 10am to 5pm, the slot when the dharna activities too are at their peak. The ground+1 building houses two schools having Std I to VIII and an NMC clinic. Both schools have the same name but called ‘I’ and ‘II’. Aneesa Begum, headmistress of the first, refused to comment while the second’s HM Feroza Begum was out for training.
When TOI took a tour inside, the teachers had closed the windows and door of classrooms to minimize the sound coming from the venue. In a class, some students were repeating slogans “Azaadi azaadi azaadi” which they were hearing from the protesters during their break.
While the teachers had been unsuccessfully trying to focus on teaching amid blaring loudspeakers, the kids accompanying protesting mothers start loitering the corridors.
When TOI posed queries to Hafiz Abdul Basit, an organizer, he said, “Mics won’t be used from Thursday. In the previous days, they were only played after 3pm,” he said. But a teacher refuted the claim saying that the blaring sounds go on from 12 noon onwards.
Local BSP corporator Ibrahim Taufik Ahmad alias Tailor, who is secretary of the school, said he will get the timings changed when he returns from Delhi.
A staffer said most part of their days goes on shooing away stray kids. “We also closed the inside grill to prevent them from roaming in the corridor. While we stop them, elders too stray inside. Even women cops are using the narrow open space behind the clinic for relieving themselves,” the staffer said.
Basit and Ahmad said they will ask women police and protesters not venture inside the school.
The locality, mostly dominated by Muslims, has high percentage of illiteracy with people coming from poor economic background. “How can we explain the importance of education to them?” the staffer said.
NMC’s Ashi Nagar zone assistant commissioner Ganesh Rathod said he had received a letter from police to only provide water and sanitation at the venue. “Our role is limited to infrastructure development at NMC schools. The ground is a private holding, so no permission was taken from us for the protest,” he said.
NMC education officer Preeti Mishrikotkar said she was not aware of the issue, though ideally the headmistresses should have taken objection. “I will get all the information and ensure the school runs smoothly,” she said.
The all-women teachers have been unable to teach because of daylong speeches, songs and sloganeering at the venue which faces the Nagpur Municipal Corporation’s (NMC) Azad Nagar Urdu Primary School. The school administration says it was unable to object as the secretary himself is one of the organizers.
The school runs from 10am to 5pm, the slot when the dharna activities too are at their peak. The ground+1 building houses two schools having Std I to VIII and an NMC clinic. Both schools have the same name but called ‘I’ and ‘II’. Aneesa Begum, headmistress of the first, refused to comment while the second’s HM Feroza Begum was out for training.
When TOI took a tour inside, the teachers had closed the windows and door of classrooms to minimize the sound coming from the venue. In a class, some students were repeating slogans “Azaadi azaadi azaadi” which they were hearing from the protesters during their break.
While the teachers had been unsuccessfully trying to focus on teaching amid blaring loudspeakers, the kids accompanying protesting mothers start loitering the corridors.
When TOI posed queries to Hafiz Abdul Basit, an organizer, he said, “Mics won’t be used from Thursday. In the previous days, they were only played after 3pm,” he said. But a teacher refuted the claim saying that the blaring sounds go on from 12 noon onwards.
Local BSP corporator Ibrahim Taufik Ahmad alias Tailor, who is secretary of the school, said he will get the timings changed when he returns from Delhi.
A staffer said most part of their days goes on shooing away stray kids. “We also closed the inside grill to prevent them from roaming in the corridor. While we stop them, elders too stray inside. Even women cops are using the narrow open space behind the clinic for relieving themselves,” the staffer said.
Basit and Ahmad said they will ask women police and protesters not venture inside the school.
The locality, mostly dominated by Muslims, has high percentage of illiteracy with people coming from poor economic background. “How can we explain the importance of education to them?” the staffer said.
NMC’s Ashi Nagar zone assistant commissioner Ganesh Rathod said he had received a letter from police to only provide water and sanitation at the venue. “Our role is limited to infrastructure development at NMC schools. The ground is a private holding, so no permission was taken from us for the protest,” he said.
NMC education officer Preeti Mishrikotkar said she was not aware of the issue, though ideally the headmistresses should have taken objection. “I will get all the information and ensure the school runs smoothly,” she said.
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