Mangaluru: After Sri Ram Sena raid, St Thomas School suspends Arabic class

[email protected] (CD Network)
August 6, 2016

Mangaluru, Aug 6: A week after Sri Ram Sena activists raided the St Thomas Aided Higher Primary School at Bondanthila in the outskirts of the city, the management of the school has decided to suspend the optional Arabic language teaching class.

bondanthile 9

The decision comes after the school management convened a meeting of village elders and parents on Friday in the wake of increased pressure by the Hindutva groups to stop the Arabic class.

The Sri Ram Sena had threatened to hold protests if the school continued to hold Arabic classes. The group, however, has not raised objection to teaching of other foreign languages like French and German.

On July 30 a group of around 40 miscreants belonging to Sri Ram Sena barged into the school while the Arabic teaching was going on in a classroom. Even though the students clarified that no one forced them to learn Arabic, the intruders threatened the Arabic teacher and snatched books from the students.

Following a complaint from the school headmaster Mangaluru Rural Police has registered cases of trespass and rioting against the Sri Ram Sena activists. Around 20 miscreants were taken into custody after the incident.

According to Melwyn Braggs, the headmaster of the School, they had been teaching German, French and Arabic to students for the last few years. This year, parents had, during the parent-teacher meeting, said they did not want French and German but wanted Arabic and karate classes to continue.

While karate is taught on Friday, Arabic classes are held on Saturday, and the school management had made arrangements for teachers to teach these subjects.

Braggs, rubbished the allegations of forcibly teaching Arabic students and said that attendance to these classes was purely voluntary. Only about 40 of the 59 students of classes 6 and 7 were attending the Arabic class, he said.

Also Read:

Mangaluru: 16 Sri Ram Sena activists arrested for school raid

Hindutva activists raid St Thomas school over Arabic class, videograph girls

Arabic class may produce terrorists; will hold protest at churches: Sri Ram Sena

Comments

Wake uP
 - 
Saturday, 6 Aug 2016

As A.Mangalore (4) said thousands of hindus working in Gulf?
What will happen if they learn Arabic in Gulf ... Question : WILL they all Become Terrorist?
When your dirty tactics doesnt work to fool people, then your plan will be dumb, you all will be in stupidity... LOOKS VERY STUPID.

Dont play with Divine religion, U will be looked after by your CREATOR on your mischief and ALLAH is the best of Planner... All your plans are flopping and now U guys look VERY STUPID in your claim.
Divine religion will be spread despite your evil agenda.
Try whatever ways
Try whatever wealth
Try whatever manpower
Try whatever energy U have. U will have to bow down to the divine religion...
Please read atleast one time in your life time the DIVINE SCRIPTURE (The QURAN) & Know who is enemy of MANKIND? is it MUSLIMs or those put hatred in the people . U will get a CLEAR answer to those who are intellect in searching for the TRUE GOD.

Karana rao
 - 
Saturday, 6 Aug 2016

good finally school accepted whatever they are doing is totally wrong.

manmohan
 - 
Saturday, 6 Aug 2016

what was the need of teaching arabic in school, if students was that much interested to learn they could learn from madrasa.

shiva sena mangalore
 - 
Saturday, 6 Aug 2016

well done!! this s how we deal with schools,

A. Mangalore
 - 
Saturday, 6 Aug 2016

Now I am worried that there are thousands of Hindus from our state are working in the gulf state where the official language and spoken language is Arabic. Thousands of hindu students are also going here for schools and there is a option of learning Arabic also in the schools.
Now these hate mongers may give order for all the hindus to leave the job of Arabic countries and come back to India.

SK
 - 
Saturday, 6 Aug 2016

No problem, Muslim students will learn Arabic at home/Madrasa......Hindus are not at all interested.... But the christans are the losers

N S Mohammed
 - 
Saturday, 6 Aug 2016

Government is helpless in front of Hindu extremist group. This is encouraging to chaddi group.
Unless sleeping government start to take stringiest action against this chaddis & public United against social enemies good citizen faces issues. Only jobless uneducated people get temporary victory over land.

But don't forget every human being accounted for their deeds on the earth none is spared regardless his strength, power on earth.

Abdullah
 - 
Saturday, 6 Aug 2016

I thank the school management and headmaster for arranging Arabic language classes to interested students including my son. Now suspending Arabic class is also a wise decision in the wake of threats from Sri Ram Sena and other uneducated hatemonger groups.

I, as a parent of one of the students of the school request the police to book all those who raided the school under Goonda Act and break their legs in custody.

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News Network
December 20,2025

Mangaluru, Dec 20: The Mangaluru City Police have issued a detailed traffic advisory ahead of the inaugural ceremony of Karavali Utsava, which will be held at the Karavali Utsava Ground on Saturday.

The festival will be inaugurated at 6:00 pm by Dakshina Kannada District Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao. Cultural and public programmes will be held at the venue every evening and will continue until January 2.

According to City Police Commissioner Sudheer Kumar Reddy, parking of vehicles is strictly prohibited on both sides of the road from Lalbagh to Karavali Utsava Ground. Visitors are requested to park their vehicles only at designated parking areas.

To help the public, traffic signboards and parking guidance flex boards have been installed along the routes leading to the venue. The police have urged commuters and visitors to follow these instructions to ensure smooth traffic movement.

Designated Parking Locations

•    Urwa Market Ground – Cars
•    Gandhinagar Government School (near Press Club) – Two-wheelers and cars
•    Ladyhill Church parking area – Two-wheelers and cars
•    Canara School Ground, Mannagudda – Two-wheelers and cars
•    Thimmappa Hotel premises – Two-wheelers and cars
•    Scout and Guide Bhavana premises (behind Karavali Utsava Grounds) – Two-wheelers
•    Urwa Market Road – Two-wheelers
•    Hat Hill Road – Two-wheelers

The police have appealed to the public to cooperate by following traffic rules and parking guidelines to avoid inconvenience during the festival.

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News Network
December 15,2025

Mangaluru, Dec 15: Educational institutions in Mangaluru that rely on the popular Mangala Stadium for their annual sports events are bracing for an inconvenience as the city's key sporting venue is set to close its gates for a significant upgrade. The stadium is expected to be unavailable for approximately two months starting from January 15, 2026.

The closure is necessitated by a proposed overhaul of the stadium's facilities, with a special focus on upgrading the synthetic track. Pradeep Dsouza, Assistant Director of the District of Youth Empowerment and Sports (DYES), Dakshina Kannada, confirmed the development.

"Experts have visited the stadium, conducted a thorough inspection, and have given the go-ahead for a complete makeover," Dsouza stated. "Funds have been allocated for the project, and we are currently awaiting the final green signal from state officials to commence the work. We anticipate that the work will likely begin in the second week of January. Consequently, we have stopped renting out the stadium to colleges and other organizations in preparation for the upgrade."

The timing presents a logistical challenge for colleges, as many schools have already concluded their sports meets.

"Colleges will now be organizing their events and will need to find alternative locations to host their sports meets," Dsouza added. He suggested a few potential venues, including the Dakshina Kannada police ground, University College grounds, Panambur grounds, Swaraj Maidan in Moodbidri, and the Mangalore University sports grounds in Konaje.

However, many institutions note that finding a comparable venue will be difficult. While the DK police ground and University College grounds are closer to the city center, they do not possess the extensive facilities and infrastructure offered by Mangala Stadium.

Dr. P Dayananda Pai - P Satisha Govt First Grade College, Carstreet, is one such institution dependent on the stadium. Principal Jayakar Bhandary expressed hope for a swift completion of the work. "We expect the work to be completed at the earliest. If not, we will be forced to look for other venues to host the sports day for our students," Bhandary said, highlighting the pressing need for the city's main sporting facility.

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News Network
December 15,2025

Mangaluru police have arrested a 27-year-old NRI on his return from Saudi Arabia in connection with an Instagram post allegedly containing derogatory and provocative remarks about the Hindu religion, officials said on Monday.

The accused, Abdul Khader Nehad, a resident of Ulaibettu in Mangaluru, was working in Saudi Arabia when the post was uploaded, police said.

A suo motu case was registered at the Bajpe police station on October 11 after an allegedly offensive post circulated from the Instagram account ‘team_sdpi_2025’. Police said the content was flagged for being provocative and derogatory in nature.

During the investigation, technical analysis traced the Instagram post to Nehad, who was residing abroad at the time, a senior police officer said. Based on these findings, a Look Out Circular (LOC) was issued against him.

On December 14, Nehad arrived from Saudi Arabia at Calicut International Airport in Kerala, where he was taken into custody on arrival. Police said further investigation is underway.

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