Shocking news has come out from Goa’s Vasco area. Shankar Gaonkar, principal of Keshav Smriti Higher Secondary School, Dabolim, allegedly took students to the mosque on the pretext of a workshop and also performed religious rituals there. As soon as the incident was revealed, there was a huge uproar, after which the school management has suspended the principal.
What is the whole case?
According to the report, the students were invited by the Students Islamic Organisation (SIO) to visit the mosque on Saturday as part of a community programme. The principal took the students to a nearby mosque. But here girls were seen wearing traditional Muslim hijabs and boys were seen doing wudu ritual of washing faces, hands and feet with the intention of cleaning themselves before entering the mosque. As soon as the matter came out, the parents of the students got angry.
Protest against the incident
There was a lot of opposition to this incident in the school. VHP leaders condemned the incident and demanded immediate suspension of the principal. “How were Hindu girls allowed to enter a mosque where women are not allowed to enter? The VHP sought to know how the school authorities allowed the students to enter the mosque based on the SIO’s request, that too without proper questioning.?
No information to the school
Pandurang Korgaonkar, president of Keshav Smriti School, claimed that the school management was not aware of the students performing the rituals during their visit to the mosque. Principal Shankar Goenkar has been suspended till further notice, he said. Along with this, memos will also be issued to the teachers involved in the tour. According to him, the principal had taken the students to the mosque with the intention of inter-religious communal harmony.
