A teacher allegedly cut off a string from the wrist of a Hindu student at a school in South Africa, hurting religious sentiments and triggering condemnation from the community.
The incident occurred recently at Drakensburg Secondary School in KwaZulu-Natal province.
South African Hindu Maha Sabha President Ashwin Trikamjee said the organisation will not allow overlooking of religious intolerance in schools.
“We’ve written to the Department of Education as well, as soon as we get a response from them, and I’m sure there’s going to be a substantive response,” he told SABC News.
“I feel that the time may well come where when you get perpetrators who are deliberately flouting these principles that are enshrined in our constitution, then we must seriously consider laying criminal charges against them,” he said.
According to reports, one of the students said a Muslim teacher had asked the Hindu students to remove the red string, carrying religious significance, from their wrists.
She claimed the principal of the institution, who is a Hindu, had asked them to ‘hide’ it.
A teacher allegedly cut off the string from the wrist of a student after she protested against it.
“As the female pupils line up for inspection, the teacher asks the Hindus to remove their strings. In one instance, one of the students spoke up and told the teacher that what she was doing was wrong,” a student was quoted as saying by IOL.
“Later that day, the teacher stopped this pupil and cut the red string off her wrist,” the student told the South African news portal.
She said Hindu students did not complain about the issue since they fear victimisation.
“This is religious intolerance and our constitutional rights are being violated,” the student said.
A parent told the news portal that her daughter faced similar treatment in her school for wearing the sacred string.
“But I told my child not to be afraid of the teacher and to keep her red string on. The day school opened this year, the teacher stopped my daughter as I dropped her off and told her to remove her red string,” the parent told IOL.
“She has been doing this since last year to Hindu pupils. My daughter and I have taken the complaint to the principal but the teacher is saying my daughter is lying,” said the parent.
Another parent said: “What is most upsetting, is that the principal is a Hindu himself and wears a red string. But he is allowing our children to get harassed,” added the parent.”
Authorities promise investigation
Head of Communications for the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education, Muzi Mahlambi, said officials have been selected for an investigation into the incident.
“Immediately we engaged our local officials to attend to the matter,” Muzi Mahlambi told SABC News.
“Our posture to the whole matter is that we should continue with our advocacy, with our education until we get it right. You can’t be punished for belonging to a particular religion,” Muzi Mahlambi said.
