Madhya Pradesh school education department authorities have initiated an investigation into an alleged incident at a ‘CM Rise School’ in Rajgarh district.

The principal of the school reportedly prohibited students from chanting the ‘Gayatri Mantra’ during the morning assembly.

This incident occurred on Wednesday morning at the school located in Biaora town. The principal justified his actions by stating that as a government school, promoting any religious activities on the premises is not permitted.

After a teacher recorded a video of the incident and shared it on social media platforms, the authorities were alerted and decided to launch a probe into the matter.

In response to the issue, Minister of State for School Education (independent charge), Inder Singh Parmar, has ordered an inquiry into the matter.

“An inquiry has been ordered into the matter. This type of act will not be tolerated. Education will be imparted in all the schools according to Indian culture and tradition, it has been said in the new education policy. Saraswati Vandana is mandatory in all the schools and is also being followed,” Parmar was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

The minister added that the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) will investigate the matter and submit a report promptly.

The school principal, Dushyant Rana, reportedly said that since it is a government school, any kind of religious activities is banned.

“In this context, we had a meeting on Tuesday in which it was decided that only the national anthem, national song and an inspirational song would be sung during the morning school assembly,” he claimed.

The principal alleged that three teachers, Harish Saxena, Bajrang Jangde, and Nutan Dubey, instigated the children and deliberately made them chant prayers.

“Gayatri Mantra, Mahamrityunjaya Jaap and also there were three-four verses which are related to Hinduism. I said that no particular religion can be promoted in government schools in such a way. But the teachers did not listen to me and instigated the children to do all those prayers,” he added.

Further, the principal alleged that the teachers started the prayers before time in a bid to ensure that he remained unaware of their plan.