Jharkhand school removes Pakistani Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai's photo after stir

RAMGARH: A government high school in Kuju under the Mandu block of Ramgarh district was forced to remove photographs of Nobel laureate and girl education activist, Malala Yousafzai, of Pakistan two days ago, following a series of protests by locals and panchayat representatives in the last few days.
The school has around 500 children on its rolls.
Poster removed to avoid controversy: Headmaster
While the school had put up posters in January this year to motivate the children to pursue education, it caught everyone's attention only recently after the picture and videos of it went viral on social media, local sources said.
However, villagers backed by the panchayat representatives wanted the photographs removed, asking why any school should have a foreign national as their icon as India has many inspirational figures. Unwanted to court further controversy, the school management removed the photographs.
On Sunday, Jai Kumar Ojha, the mukhiya of Kuju west panchayat, said, "It's globally known that Pakistan backs state-sponsored terrorism against India and our country has paid a big price from the cross-border terrorism. We don't need peace lessons from Pakistani activists."
Headmaster Ravindra Prasad said, "Our teachers keep coming up with creative ideas in the school to encourage and motivate students to study. This poster, too, was under that initiative to motivate the students from Malala's fight for the education of girls. But we have removed it now to avoid any unwanted controversy.