Trinidad and Tobago: Hindu pupils at the Cunupia High School were told by security guards to remove the raksha (coloured strings tied to wrists) after performing their religious Maha Shiva Raatri prayers.Teachers of the school wrote to Chaguanas Mayor Surujrattan Rambachan for his intervention.
In the letter, the teachers said: "To our horror, on entry to school this morning (last week Monday), we were stopped by a number of Hindu students who were abhorred at the fact that they were not being permitted onto the school’s premises as they were wearing the raksha."On investigations, the teachers said they realised that the MTS security guards "were forcing children to cut off their raksha and in one instance, a girl had to tear the raksha off her hand, which resulted in her hand being severely bruised."
The teachers added: "On speaking to the principal, he informed us that he will not allow any student on the compound wearing the sacred raksha unless he is given directive from the Ministry of Education."The teachers are demanding action, since they consider the incident "a violation of their fundamental rights".
The principal Vishnu Gopaul-Maharajh was not available for comment yesterday. Communications specialist at the Ministry of Education Mervyn Critchlow meanwhile said he had not received either verbal or written report of the incident. He suggested that the aggrieved teachers and pupils "follow the protocol and take the matter up with the schools supervisor first".
He said there was a protocol to how things were done, and they should follow the procedure and take it up with the supervisors first, before taking any other action.
Source: www.trinidadexpress.com
