Lok Sabha raises issue of some Urdu-medium schools observing Friday as weekly holiday in Jharkhand

BJP MP Nishikant Dubey brought up the "very serious" issue of some Urdu-medium schools in Jharkhand observing Fridays as their weekly holiday instead of Sundays, in the Lok Sabha. He also demanded a probe into the matter by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday, August 5.

The issue was raised during the Zero Hour. Dubey even alleged that the changed weekly day-off was a move towards "Islamisation" and demanded that the Union Government withhold funds released to these schools under the Centre's Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, as per a report by PTI.

"All of a sudden, at least 1,800 schools included the word Urdu in their names across Jharkhand. Now a report of a committee set up by the Jharkhand government has come (which stated) that Sunday is not a weekly holiday in these schools," he said.

"It is my humble request to the Centre that an NIA probe be ordered and funding of the schools which have included Urdu in their names and changed the weekly holiday to Friday be withheld. This country runs under one law and that such things will not be tolerated at any cost," he added.

Earlier this week, the Jharkhand government had stated that a total of 407 schools had been declared as Urdu schools at the local level and the weekly holiday had been changed from Sundays to Fridays across 509 schools. This was in response to a question in the state Legislative Assembly.

On August 2, State Parliamentary Affairs Minister Alamgir Alam, while replying to question of BJP MLA Anant Kumar Ojha, said, "According to the report received from the districts, the state of the matter is that 407 schools in the state had been declared as Urdu schools at local level. Corrections have been made by removing the word Urdu from 350 of these schools."

"The old system of weekly holiday on Sundays has been restored in 459 out of 509 schools. Direction has been issued to remove Urdu from the name of the general schools. Directions have been issued to take action against the erring officials," he added.

The government schools in Muslim-dominated districts of Bihar and Jharkhand allegedly changed their weekly day-off from Sundays to Fridays. The issue has created a political controversy after the matter was reported by local media.