Colleges to reopen: Udupi DC Kurma Rao holds peace meet
Mangaluru, Feb 15: A peace meeting was held at Udupi on Tuesday by district deputy commissioner M Kurma Rao to seek the support of students and the public to ensure smooth conduct of classes in the junior and degree colleges, set to reopen on Wednesday.
The pre-university and degree colleges will resume classes from Wednesday after a week-long holiday declared by the state government in the wake of troubles in campuses due to the hijab-saffron shawl controversy.
Leaders of political parties, student's organisations, religious leaders and other prominent persons attended the meeting.
The DC appealed to all sections of society to abide by the High Court's interim order not to wear any religious attire to educational institutions until the final judgement on the issue is pronounced. Leaders of all the organisations who attended the meeting agreed to maintain law and order.
Rao said prompt action will be taken if any attempt is made to disturb peace in the colleges in the district.
Udupi district superintendent of police N Vishnuvardhan said additional police force has been deployed to maintain law and order in the district. A total of 700 police personnel will be on duty, including those from the state reserve police, he said.
The district administration has clamped prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC within 200-metre radius of all colleges and polytechnics in the district from 6 AM on February 16 to 6 PM on February 23 as a precautionary measure to prevent any untoward incident.
On January 1, six girl students of a college in Udupi attended a press conference held by Campus Front of India (CFI) in the coastal town protesting against the college authorities denying them entry into the classroom wearing Hijab.
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AIITA welcomes Karnataka’s ban on obscene songs in school events
Bhatkal: The Karnataka unit of the All India Ideal Teachers Association (AIITA) has welcomed the Karnataka government’s decision to strictly ban school children from dancing to obscene songs during educational and cultural programmes in government, aided, and private schools across the state.
AIITA Karnataka State President M. R. Manvi congratulated the government for taking what he termed an important step to preserve the sanctity of education.
“Such decisions to safeguard the dignity of school children and uphold the values of education are the need of the hour. This rule should not be limited to government schools alone but must be strictly implemented in all private educational institutions as well,” he said.
He further urged the government to address other concerns within school programmes.
“The government should not only prohibit obscene dances in the name of school anniversaries, but also ensure that plays and dialogues that incite religious hatred are avoided. Schools should be centres of harmony, not platforms for spreading hatred,” he added.
According to a recent circular issued by the Department of School Education and Literacy, obscene dances are adversely affecting the mental health and moral values of students.
In this regard, schools have been advised to use songs that promote nationalism, positive thinking, the greatness of Kannada culture, and value-based traditions instead of inappropriate content during programmes.
The circular also emphasises that students should be dressed in decent attire.
AIITA also backed the department’s warning that disciplinary action would be taken against head teachers if such guidelines are violated. The association has further demanded that district Deputy Directors of Public Instruction strictly monitor the implementation of these rules.
