Students, parents rally behind Thane school principal

A huge crowd of present students, alumni as well as parents gathered at St John the Baptist School on Thursday to express solidarity with principal Fr Michael Pinto, following allegations of insults against him by an intern teacher. The teacher complained that Fr Pinto had told her to remove her burqa and not come to school wearing one. While the students said that these allegations are baseless, Pinto said they are politically motivated.

A sea of students as well as parents gathered in the school premises and pledged their support. "This is not possible. Fr Pinto is loved by all students. It's a secular school where all festivals are celebrated," said one student, adding, "In fact, the school hosted an iftaar party two days before Eid. Muslim students and their parents came, offered namaaz and then feasted on biryani and sweets," he said.

Sanad Sheikh is from MCT's College of Education and Research in Airoli. The college had sent her and a few others for a month-long internship at the school. On July 18, she had gone to the administration office of the school to submit her papers. She alleged that Fr. Pinto approached her told her to not wear a burqa to school. She even approached the Naupada police; however, the matter was resolved amicably and no case was lodged.

Explaining his side, Fr Pinto said that what he said was misconstrued. "There are seven Muslim teachers in our school who remove their burqas and teach. Even Muslim girl students do that," he said. "So, I told her that she should follow what the others are doing, and that rules are applicable to everyone," he added.

He also said that there is a chapter on terrorism in the subject of PD (personality development) in class IX and X during which he mentioned about the terror attacks in France and Bangladesh. "Even that was misconstrued," he said. Three Muslim students alleged that their principal had rebuked them by saying that the community they belong to is responsible for the attacks in those countries and that he had advised other students not to be friends with them.

Pinto said that he finds this entire episode politically motivated. "On the day this incident happened, there was a person from a political party in the campus who had come for admission. While we gave admission to one student recommended by him, he wanted to secure more such admissions. But when we refused, all these allegations followed," he said.

Fr Pinto added that such allegations are a common occurrence during the admission process and political parties get angry when recommendations are not paid heed to. "Then they create such controversies and try to give it a communal colour. But the amount of support and love I received from students, ex-students and parents after this incident is enough for me. I am grateful for their support," he said.