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'Stop forcing students to recite a Psalm from Bible': Parents object school's assembly prayer

The parents have asked the school management to stop forcing students to recite a Psalm from the Bible which talks about punishing the wicked.

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A group of parents from Panvel's St Joseph High School has raised objections to a prayer that the school has asked students to recite every day during the morning assembly. The parents have asked the school management to stop forcing students to recite a Psalm from the Bible which talks about punishing the wicked.

Parents, who are already in a long-standing battle with the school over the issue of fee hike, have alleged that the school has asked students to recite Psalm 109 of the Bible which asks God to punish the wicked. Referring to the wicked, the verse reads: "Let his days be few; and let another take his office. Let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow...let his children be continually vagabond and beg, let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places."

It also states, "Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise. For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me: they have spoken against me with a lying tongue."

Manisha Patil, a parent from the school who has opposed the prayer, said, "The school has introduced the prayer from this academic year. Young children should not be taught revenge in such a manner as it would leave a bad impression on their minds, When we tried speaking to the school about it, officials asked us to ignore it. This is just a strategy to trouble children of those parents who have been speaking against the school over the last few years."

She added, "Our children come home and ask if anything wrong would happen to them since their parents talk against the school. This is a cheap gimmick." An official spokesperson from the Ryan group, which the school is a part of, said that he did not wish to comment on the issue.

Jayant Jain, President, Forum for Fairness in Education who took up the issue said that it was really wrong if the school was asking students to recite such a prayer. " It is really shocking if such a prayer is being given by the school and if it is used to target parents who are protesting the hike," said Jain.

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