The General Education Department, on Sunday, suspended a teacher employed at AUP School Pallathadka, Kasaragod, following the row over the Freedom quiz. One of the questions included in the quiz competition was on V D Savarkar. The question was: “Who is the freedom fighter who received the most severe punishment from the British?” The answer given was Savarkar.

The politically sensitive nature of the question triggered a major row in the state with the CPM chiding the government for drifting towards the RSS propaganda. Minister for General Education N Samsudheen ordered a probe and called for strict action following the controversy.

The quiz was held on August 6 at schools under the Kasaragod, Kumbla and Manjeshwar sub-districts as part of the 80th Independence Day Celebrations. The student organisations also fiercely objected to the question, prompting the government to take punitive action.

Deputy Director of Education, Kasaragod, submitted a probe report which cited that the questions for the quiz competition were prepared by a group of teachers led by Guru Prasad, a teacher with the AUPS in Kumbala educational sub-district. Snehil Kumar Singh, Director of General Education, issued the suspension order on Sunday and directed a comprehensive probe into the matter. The teacher will face department-level action.

The freedom quiz was organised for the lower-primary, upper-primary and high school sections. There were a total of 15 questions in the LP section quiz, of which 5 questions were added for the tie-breaker. The 5th question was on Savarkar, which caused the uproar.

The probe by the DDE found out that the question was misleading and drafting such a question in the quiz was a grave offence.