Karnataka Education Minister BC Nagesh on Wednesday said the Bible and the Quran are religious texts but the Bhagavad Gita is not as it speaks about the “values and life” and not religious practices.
The education minister made the comments while responding to reporters in Mangaluru on whether the state government planned to make the Bhagavad Gita part of the Moral Science syllabus in schools. The minister said that religious books and practices cannot be introduced in schools registered under the Karnataka Education Act.
“Bible and Quran are not allowed in schools as they are religious texts, and the block education officers have been asked to verify as there are some allegations that institutions run by Christians are asking children to carry Bible in bags and keep it with them during prayer,” BC Nagesh said.
The comments by the minister came after Bangalore Archbishop Peter Machado asked if the government made it mandatory for students to carry copies of the Hindu religious text, would it be construed as making an attempt to convert them.
The archbishop said the aforementioned responding to allegations made by Hindutva organisation Hindu Janajagruti Samiti that the Clarence High School in Bengaluru had made it mandatory for students to carry the Bible with the aim of forcibly converting non-Christians.
On Wednesday, education minister BC Nagesh said the state government would not interfere in the administration of the schools and colleges run by minority institutions. However, he also stressed that they cannot introduce changes in the curriculum when registered under Karnataka Education Act.
As an independent media platform, we do not take advertisements from governments and corporate houses. It is you, our readers, who have supported us on our journey to do honest and unbiased journalism. Please contribute, so that we can continue to do the same in future.
