The South Delhi Municipal Corporation has as per reports announced its intention to install idols of Goddess Saraswati in 582 of its Primary schools. The corporation decided to take this decision at its monthly standing committee meeting on Wednesday.
This decision was put forth by Anamika Mithilesh, the councillor from Hari Nagar. She stated that the children who come study in these primary schools are poor and more often than not lack interest in academics. Hence the installation of Goddess Saraswati’s idol would not only serve as a blessing for the kids, it would also make them feel more enthusiastic about studies.
She has also put forth the proposal that a grand celebration be carried out during Basant Panchami.
As per SDMC’s Standing Committee chairman, Bhupender Gupta, the schools would be responsible for sourcing these Murtis out of their own funds, thereby putting no financial strain on the corporation. This as per him, resulted in the corporation agreeing to this proposal.
Apart from this, the corporation is also thinking about implementing innovative learning techniques in these schools. The corporation has also decided that on Saturday the students won’t be required to bring either their books or bags to school. On that day instead of bookish learning, the students would be taught about India’s great icons from a variety of fields like history, religion, literature, sciences, sports, to name a few.
While on one hand the South Delhi Municipal Corporation is promoting the devotion towards Goddess Saraswati, on the other hand it was seen how Muslim groups had stopped a school from celebrating Saraswati Puja in West Bengal.
We had reported the tensions had risen in the Tehatta High School after Muslim groups and locals had forcibly entered the school in December to celebrate Nabi Diwas (Birthday of Prophet Mohammed), which included making religious speeches. They had later also proceeded to vandalise the school property.
About a month later, when the date of Saraswati puja started nearing, such groups again demanded to celebrate Nabi Diwas on 28th January. The headmaster as a result begged the Uluberia police to take some preventive steps as the school could see another forcible gathering and protests. This allegedly angered the groups as they again vandalised the school property.
The district inspector of schools, thus, ordered the school to remain shut until further notice, thereby ensuring that the 65 years old tradition of Saraswati Puja celebrations stood cancelled.
