School timing: Syro-Malabar Church warns government against bowing to Samastha demands

Thiruvananthapuram: After 'love jihad', 'narcotic jihad', and minority scholarships, the Catholic Church has found yet another reason to feel annoyed by the Muslim community:  the Muslim clerics' body Samastha Kerala Jem-iyyathul Ulama's objection to the revised high school timings.

Samastha has said that the state government's move to increase daily school timings by 30 minutes, 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the evening, will affect "20 lakh-odd" Muslim students taking 'madrasa' education.

"Will the same set of people who say that democracy and secularism should not be removed from the Constitution say that general education should come only after religious education," asks an editorial by 'Deepika', the mouthpiece of the dominant Syro-Malabar Catholic Church.

The editorial tells the government not to buckle under Samastha pressure. Samastha leader Umar Faizy Mukkam had on July 15 said that there would be consequences if the government decided to ignore the Samastha.

As per the education calendar drawn up after discussion with experts, and at the directions of the court in August 2024, the working hours of high schools (Classes 8, 9 and 10) have been fixed at 1,100 hours. This is sought to be achieved through 220 working days this academic year (a High Court prescription) by increasing the working hours by 30 minutes on all working days, except 38 Fridays.

So now high school classes in government and aided schools will begin at 9.45 am instead of 10 am and the final bell will be struck at 4.15 pm instead of 4 pm.

Originally, the government had planned to convert 25 Saturdays into working days but when teachers' organisations went to court, the government junked the move.  

"Things have now reached a stage where it is being argued that it is the responsibility of the state government to make sure that religious education, too, gets as much time as the religion stipulates," the editorial said. "Other religions have set aside holidays for religious classes and holy rituals. It has to be noted that the additional time has not been applied on Fridays for the religious needs of Muslim students," the editorial said.

It also refers to a 2022 statement of Samastha leader Nazar Faizy Koodathayi in which he had said that major Muslim festivals like Eid were granted a holiday of just one day as opposed to the 10 days for Onam and Christmas. "He seems to have forgotten that Muslims enjoy unique religious privileges on Fridays and also that other religions respect their religious needs," it said.

The editorial also points out that Muslim students in the CBSE and ICSE streams have no time for 'madrasa' education and yet no complaints were heard. It said that certain quarters had complained that the increase in school timings would induce fatigue in children. "It is true, but the irony is, this is the lament of a group of people who had forced a two-hour 'madrasa' education on children in addition to school education," the editorial says. "Won't the problem be solved if 15 minutes is taken away from daily 'madrasa' education," it asks.

It also advises Samastha and "equally aggrieved organisations" to move the Court if they feel that their demand is just. It then quotes from the Bible to reinforce the importance of government decisions. "In a democratic-secular system, render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's."

It asks the government to stick to its stand and to refrain from pacifying religious leaders. "It will throw open a way for other communal elements, too, if, given the imminence of elections, the government opts to offer God what is meant for Caesar," the editorial says. And then, with wry humour, adds: "Curiously waiting for the day when the government would declare Sundays and other holy days as working days."

As it stands, the state government has stuck to its decision but has expressed a willingness to discuss the issue with the Samastha leaders. General education minister V Sivankutty had personally called up Samastha president Syed Jifri Muthukoya Thangal on July 15 and said the government was ready for talks.

It is said that the Samastha would present "practical solutions" at the meeting with the government officials. If the meeting ends in stalemate, Samastha's feeder organisation Samastha Kerala Madrasa Management Association has threatened to launch an indefinite strike.

"In Islam, education and religion are the same. We will not go back on our resolve," said M T Abdullah Musaliar, the convenor of the agitation and the general secretary of Samastha Kerala Islam Education Board.