JAMMU, Aug 13: The Akhil Bharatiya Rashtriya Shaikshik Mahasangh has strongly condemned the suspension of teacher Shri Guru Prasad for asking a question related to Swatantryaveer Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in a School Social Science Freedom Quiz organised in Kumbla Sub-District of Kasaragod district, Kerala. The organisation has demanded his immediate and unconditional reinstatement.
All India President of the Mahasangh, Dr Narayan Lal Gupta, said Savarkar was an important historical figure associated with India’s freedom movement and that his revolutionary life, imprisonment by the British government and incarceration in the Cellular Jail in the Andaman Islands were legitimate subjects of historical study. He said students should be allowed to learn about historical personalities irrespective of differing views about them.
Gupta maintained that asking a question about Savarkar could neither be treated as a crime or an act of indiscipline nor construed as promotion of any political ideology. He said the freedom movement was not the property of any single political party or ideology and its national narrative had been shaped by the contributions of numerous personalities, including Mahatma Gandhi, Subhas Chandra Bose, Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekhar Azad, Sardar Patel, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Sri Aurobindo and Savarkar.
Prof Geeta Bhatt, All India General Secretary of the Mahasangh, said that if the question paper had been examined and approved by the concerned Sub-District Education Officer before being circulated to schools, it would be inappropriate to hold only the teacher who prepared the question paper responsible for any alleged error.
She demanded an impartial examination of the entire process of preparing, sourcing, scrutinising and approving the question paper. She said suspending a teacher before completion of such an inquiry could create an atmosphere of fear and self-censorship among teachers and adversely affect academic freedom.
Prof Bhatt further alleged that action against a teacher over a question concerning a historical figure reflected ideological and political bias. She stressed that education should enable students to ask questions, examine evidence, develop reasoning and understand different historical perspectives rather than becoming a tool of political pressure.
She also pointed out that Savarkar has been recognised as a historical figure in independent India, citing the naming of the airport at Port Blair after him, the issuance of a postage stamp in his honour during the tenure of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and the installation of his portrait in Parliament.
The Mahasangh said historical personalities should be studied critically on the basis of facts, evidence and historical context rather than being removed from educational discourse because of political disagreements. It asserted that history and education must remain free from ideological pressure.
The organisation demanded immediate revocation of Guru Prasad’s suspension and his reinstatement in service. It also called for an impartial inquiry into the entire matter and urged authorities to protect the academic freedom, freedom of expression and dignity of teachers.