The Samastha Kerala Jamiyyathul Ulama, the biggest Muslim organisation in Kerala, on Wednesday welcomed the State government’s decision to withdraw from the move to impose ‘gender neutrality’ in classrooms.
Samastha Kerala Jamiyyathul Ulama State president Syed Jifri Muthukoya Thangal said it was good that the government would not impose gender-neutral uniform and seating positions on school campuses.
The Samastha had planned to launch an awareness campaign through Juma masjids under it against the government’s gender-neutral uniform move. Mr. Thangal said the Samastha would go ahead with its sensitisation programme. “We do not want the community to deviate from a value system it follows,” he said.
The Kerala Muslim Jamaath (KMJ) headed by Kanthapuram A.P. Aboobacker Musliyar too welcomed Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s statement that the government would not impose gender-neutral uniform in schools.
“Gender-neutral ideology is unacceptable. What we want is gender justice,” said Mr. Musliyar, appreciating the government for heeding the concerns raised by the Muslim community.
The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) reiterated here on Wednesday that the gender-neutrality controversy was created “deliberately” by the government to divert attention from some major issues facing the State.
IUML State general secretary P.M.A. Salam said the government should first ensure that there are facilities for the students to pursue higher education before talking about where they should sit.
“Thousands of children who passed SSLC are facing a bleak future because of a severe seat shortage for higher secondary studies in Malabar, particularly Malappuram district. Let the government first provide enough seats for our students, we can later talk about where they should sit and what they should wear,” said Mr. Salam.
He said the government had tried to unnecessarily create a controversy by trying to portray itself as “too liberal”. “Most people in our country are religious and they have a value system. By trying to impose a westernised culture in the name of gender neutrality, the government was offending a lot of people. It was a ploy to divert people’s attention from some serious issues,” he said.
