New Delhi: For Fozia*, a class seven student at a school in Gujarat’s Bhavnagar, Independence Day celebrations mean that her fellow schoolmates would be dressed in saffron, white and green – the tricolour – with Bollywood songs about patriotism blaring from speakers on school premises and no classes at all.

Like every year, she was excited this time too. The students at her school – Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Prathmik Shala, an all-girls’ school in Bhavnagar’s Kumbharwada area – were preparing for a skit to be performed on August 15; the theme was events that led up to ‘Operation Sindoor’.

As the students, teachers and administration seated themselves at the school’s assembly ground, words like ‘Pahalgam’, ‘terrorist’, ‘Hindu’, ‘Muslim’ began echoing amid the silence of the audience.

The students acting in the skit were dressed in clear demarcation of roles – those playing victims of the attack were dressed in white and saffron, with saffron bindi (a decorative dot) on their forehead, while the students playing the role of terrorists were dressed in burqa, wielding guns.

This sparked anger among the local Muslim community and left Muslim students at the school and their families distressed, some of whom started protesting amid the play.

The burqa-clad students were engrossed in carrying out the script and kept the skit going. However, as the video reached the parents, a huge crowd showed up at the school demanding answers from the administration.

“Both my daughters attend the same school. It is founded in the name of Abdul Kalam sahab, and this is what is being allowed. My wife, my mother and my sisters wear the burqa, should Hindu girls think of them as terrorists now?” a parent told The Wire.

Bandharan Bachav Samiti, a local organisation rallying for equal constitutional rights for all, said that locals from the Muslim community were extremely hurt at the idea of the skit that the school allowed to be performed for the Independence Day assembly. It signified a total lack of sensitivity towards its Muslim students. 

The Samiti sees this gravely hurtful, anti-Muslim and communal action by the school staff which has indeed offended the Muslim community’s sentiments.

Speaking to The Wire, Zahurbhai Jeja, president of the Samiti, said, “How is this being allowed at the school? When we first approached the school, they said they had no idea that the skit involved this kind of a dress up and thematic idea. Then they said that the children decided everything about the skit – from theme to costumes; they put the whole blame on students, thinking that no one would drag students to the police.”

Jeja said that it was only because of the anger and efforts of the community that a notice was sent to Bhavnagar Municipal School Board administrative officer (AO) Munjal Badmaliya by district education officer (DEO) Hitendrasinh D Padheriya, who sought details of the Independence Day programme and questioned the issues raised regarding the skit at the school.

He added, “Why were burqa-clad female students made to assume the role of terrorists. At an all-girls school, Col. Sofiya Qureshi must be seen as an example of patriotism and bravado. But the staff chose to identify terrorists with burqas.”

The school has more than 600 girl students. It came under scanner after videos of the I-Day programme appeared on social media.

While the school returned to routine functioning subsequently, Muslim parents are unhappy to be sending their girls to the school. There is silence on the premises, one that does not signify discipline and focus, but regret.

Rajubhai Dave, the principal at the school, has been smothered with parents’ questions, allegations and accusations. The teaching staff and administration have been in panic since the parents and the Samiti wrote to the DEO, who has put the school under watch. 

When The Wire reached out to Dave, he accepted that the skit had, in fact, happened exactly the way the locals are alleging. However, he said that the school administration had no information about it. 

When asked about why burqa was chosen to depict terrorists, Dave said that the concerned teacher chose the colour ‘black’ to depict them. However, when The Wire inquired as to why the students could not have worn other kinds of black costumes, with black masks etc, Dave said, “We made a mistake, we shouldn't have let this happen.”

In 2023, a video of students from Pearl School, a private school in Kutch district’s Mundra town, had gone viral. In the video, the students were seen performing a skit wearing skull caps to depict the celebration of the Eid-al-Adha. 

In the video, students could also be seen performing namaz with some covering their heads with handkerchiefs. Female students stood in prayer. The Wire had reported that the videos caused outrage among some locals, who alleged that Islam was being ‘imposed’ on Hindu students through such skits and that the video ‘hurt’ Hindu sentiments. 

Subsequently, the school’s principal, Priti Vaswani, was suspended.

*Name changed to protect identity

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