‘Convent schools not against any culture’

Panaji: “We are not here to promote any one culture nor to promote any one religion,” was how the Conference of Religious, Goa unit, under which are most of the “convent schools”, hit out at allegations that convent schools are against culture.

Saying that they stand for “secularism as enshrined in our Constitution”, and referring to a news item published in Herald, president of the church organ Fr Paul Alvares said that they “would like to clarify that we stand for secularism as enshrined in our Constitution and through our educational institutes we promote all religions and encourage the upliftment and development of all cultures.”

The church organ argued that false propaganda is being circulated that “convent schools” are against the Hindu culture.

“We respect all religions and all cultures and we work to develop the all round growth of the child, which includes physical, intellectual, moral and social dimensions,” Fr Alvares said. “At the same time we also respect and encourage the individual religion and culture of the child. We also continue to pledge to serve the society selflessly irrespective of caste, class, religion and language, which we have always done and will continue to do,” he added.

Herald had reported that the National Hindu Movement saw parents whose wards were allegedly “deprived from following Hindu culture,” citing examples stating how their girls were not allowed to wear bangles, apply ‘kumkum’ on the forehead to wear Indian dress, etc, in short, to abide by Hindu culture, in various convent schools in Goa. An appeal was made to such parents to think whether they should admit their children in convent schools, where their culture and traditions are at stake.