A new report from South of Tamil Nadu has come where repeated instances of attempts of religious conversion on school children have been exposed. An investigation by News 18 has thrown light on how innocent children going to school, tuitions are being either lured or targeted for adopting Christian ways of praying which has added to the headache of parents in the state of Tamil Nadu.
The investigation by the news agency comes three months after Lavanya, a 12th-grade student died by suicide after being allegedly pressurised by her missionary school staff to convert to Christianity. The case made havoc in the political circles, after which the Madras High Court directed the Central Bureau of Investigation to take up the probe. The wrath of conversion tactics by missionaries is often paid by Hindus living in Tamil Nadu who often lure them by promises or making monetary lending. However, the independent investigation carried out by News 18 in government aided as well as private schools, and tuition classes has concluded that even children are not being spared from the evangelical business in the southern state.
“You must pray to no other God but Jesus”
A Thirteen-year-old Class 8 student was told during an extra class that if he prays to Jesus, then he may score good marks and perform better than his classmates. Furthermore, he was told, if he fails to do so, he never meet success in his life and this would also lead to deformities in his body. The student’s father, who has now shifted him to another school has said, “School is not a place where we send our children to learn how one religion is better than others. This creates hatred.” The Parent while informed that when outraged parents took the matter to the school authorities, no serious action was taken.
“Hindus are Satans”
“Hindus are Satans. You will only get misery if you do not pray to Jesus. One must use a Bible while praying if they wish to be successful in life,” is what a 14-year-old girl was told during one of her school classes. Her father, when along with other students’ parents raised the matter with the school administration, it was not taken seriously while they were assured that it will not be repeated.
The ‘Moral Science’ classes of Propaganda
The investigation found that it was not only in schools but in tuition classes also where religious preaching was being imparted among children. A Class 3 girl student was asked by her tuition teacher to join her for prayers. According to her, she was forced to join the prayers even after she declined that she won’t be allowed by her parents to do so. “One boy in my tuition was also told that if he needs good marks he must come for prayer,” she says to a news18 correspondent.
Local resistance
According to locals and activists, the incidents of proselytization have increased in the region recently. Theiva Prakash, who runs a school in the Nagarcoil district, talked about the modus operandi of the missionaries who often pose as educationists. According to Prakash, the evangelists offer the school administration to give students lectures on pressing adolescent issues like ‘uses of cell phones’, ‘misuses of technology’ or moral science. “But as we have been told by students, these lectures slowly graduate to become preaching on prayers, the importance of one particular religion and how to pray to God and on how other religions are bad. This is complete brainwashing of a child as young as 8-9 years old,” Prakash says.
Laxmi Manivannan, who has written about conversion issues in Kanyakumari says, “If children are being lured with marks, for adults and those running a house, financial help is used as a trap.” Manivannan notes that according to her studies, 50% of the residents of Kanyakumari and nearby areas are crypto Christians – those practising Christianity in real life but who pose as Hindus on paper for beneficiary schemes of the government. “The demography of Kanyakumari and nearby villages has changed dramatically and quite evidently,’ Umayoru Bhagan, an educationist and retired professor from the city says. “Students can’t be told they will do better academically if they follow one particular religion. Playing with the future of children is criminal,” Bhagan asserts.
While local body groups and independent activists raise such issues before the authorities, the police often fails to take necessary steps to curtail discriminatory conversion practices. Many of the activists have started taking help from Hindu groups and take a concerted effort to provide support to such families who have been lured for conversion. ” We try to bring such people back to their religion and also help them file a complaint with the police if they wish to,” Bhaskar, an activist says.
