The recent controversy surrounding Bengaluru-based Clarence High school, which asked students to compulsorily carry the Bible and attend the scriptures class, was a “mistake that has been corrected”, Bengaluru Archbishop Reverend Fr Peter Machado has said.
In an exclusive interview with News18, the Archbishop said they had made inquiries with the school management on the century-old practice.
“From the new academic year, the school (Clarence) has done away with the clause. There has been a realisation that this was not the correct way of doing it and we cannot expect others to follow the tenets of our religion. I would like to emphasise that the Bible was not forced on any student,” said Fr Machado to News18.
He also added that the school has been advised to allow Christians to carry the Bible and also give them religious instruction as part of their extra-curriculum; if need be, extra classes could also be conducted.
The statement by the Archbishop comes in the background of Karnataka education minister BC Nagesh slamming Clarence School on its mandatory rule, which the management claims has been in place since 1914.
Nagesh said forcing anybody to carry a religious text was not acceptable and the decision by the school was against the Karnataka Education Act.
“No school can teach religious books or practices. I don’t know why the school forced students to take the Bible along,” the minister said.
News18 had earlier reported that the education department will be sending block education officers to visit Christian institutions and carry out inspections on their syllabus.
Reacting to this, Fr Machado called it a ‘serious issue’ where it could be misinterpreted that all Christian minority schools in Karnataka were forcing people to read the Bible or “break the law”.
“It is creating a bogey. There could have been over-enthusiasm from one out of 1,000 schools. But just because of one school, which has already admitted their mistake and stopped that practice forever, you cannot generalise that all Christian-run schools in Karnataka are forcing people to read the Bible or forcing people to convert,” Machado said.
The Archbishop also responded to allegations by right-wing groups that the minority educational institutions were forcing people to convert to Christianity.
“There is no truth in that. There are 600 schools in Karnataka and not a single school has received a complaint of forced conversion. If there is proof and documentation that there has been a case of conversion in any school run by Christian missionaries, I will recommend shutting down of the school,” the Archbishop said.
On March 19 this year, Nagesh announced that the Karnataka government is considering including moral science as a subject in schools from the 2023-24 academic year. Referring to the minister’s statement, Fr Machado said the community welcomes this decision as long as it is “fair and balanced towards all religious texts”.
The Archbishop stated that all schools run by the Christian minority community have a moral science class and they welcomed the decision of the government to teach moral values from different religions in the class.
“We have no objection to them being taught, provided the textbook for the moral values class is balanced, well represented and not negative towards a certain religion. We can teach all the values of justice, truth through our religious texts as well. If they say that every student has to bring the Bhagavad Gita to school, how different is it from the present situation?” he questioned.
There are very beautiful teachings of humanity, generosity, forgiveness, and even the word ‘Samaritan’ comes from the Bible, Machado said, pointing to Karnataka’s Good Samaritan Law.
In a bid to control forced conversions, the Karnataka Legislative Assembly passed the Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion (KPRFR) Bill in December 2021, also popularly known as the anti-conversion bill. Despite protests from the Opposition, which called it draconian, inhuman and anti-people, the bill was passed by a voice vote during the Winter Session held in Belagavi.
The KPRFR Bill gives protection and freedom to a person to practise their religion and prohibit “unlawful conversion from one religion to another by misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement or by any fraudulent means”.
The bill also puts in place heavy fines if anybody is found forcing people to convert. A special provision has been made with respect to conversion cases amongst minors, women or SC/ST where if found guilty, the offenders will face imprisonment from three to 10 years and a fine of not less than Rs 50,000, the bill states.
Archbishop Machado termed the bill a systematic attack on minorities, one where the real agenda of the BJP is to discredit minority institutions and dissuade people from sending their children to study in them.
“In the anti-conversion bill, to convert a person is ‘anti-national’. Is the target to stop teaching, educating or empowering people? This is to target minorities. First it was the Muslims, now it is us. They first targeted our churches, now they are coming after our educational institutions. I won’t be surprised if they target our hospitals next. Will they say ‘Don’t get admitted to their hospitals as they may convert patients’?” Machado questioned.
Expressing his regret on how the minority communities were not involved in the National Education Policy (NEP), Machado told News18 that the policy did not even have the word ‘minority’ mentioned in it.
“Does that mean that minorities are not recognised as partners who can give education? This country has come up with educational institutions that have been run by minorities. It now looks like the NEP is a subtle way to demolish minorities as an education platform,” he said.
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