Outrage At Bengaluru School Over Textbook With A Lesson On Tamannaah Bhatia

Parents of Sindhi High School in Hebbal, Bengaluru, have reportedly complained about a chapter in the textbooks that refers to Tamannaah Bhatia. According to Deccan Herald, the parents have brought the issue to the attention of the school administration.

However, their ignorance and lack of action forced them to approach the Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights and the Karnataka Primary and Secondary Schools Association.

According to reports, the school has a textbook for Class 7 on Sindhis which includes a chapter on “Life after Partition: Migration, Community and Unrest in Sindh, 1947 to 1962”. Since Sindhis are a linguistic minority, they were allowed to introduce their community and culture to the students.

The chapter reportedly features prominent and successful members of the Sindhi community like actor Ranveer Singh. However, parents reportedly had an issue with the content which involved actress Tamannaah.

The reports quoted the parents as saying, “We have no objection to children being introduced to a different culture,” said a parent who filed the complaint with the commission and the association. “Our objection is related to a chapter on an actor which is unsuitable for Class 7 students,” said another.

Some parents accused the school management of threatening their children with issuing promotion certificates if they objected. The portal reports that the school was not available for comment. A parent said, “We have no problem with teaching about veteran actors in the community, but if children were to look up this actress on the internet, they would get inappropriate content.”

D Shashi Kumar, general secretary of the association said, “In any case, adding content has to be approved by the concerned authority to which the school is affiliated. So, parents have to raise the same with the school authority.”