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 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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News Network
December 7,2025

SHRIMP.jpg

Mangaluru, Dec 7: A rare bamboo shrimp has been rediscovered on mainland India more than 70 years after it was last reported, confirming for the first time the presence of Atyopsis spinipes in the country. The find was made by researchers from the Centre for Climate Change Studies at Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, during surveys in Karnataka and Odisha.

The team — shrimp expert Dr S Prakash, PhD scholar K Kunjulakshmi, and Mangaluru-based researcher Maclean Antony Santos — combined field surveys, ecological assessments and DNA analysis to identify the elusive species. Their findings, published in Zootaxa, resolve decades of taxonomic confusion stemming from a 1951 report that misidentified the species as Atyopsis moluccensis without strong evidence.

The shrimp has now been confirmed at two locations: the Mulki–Pavanje estuary near Mangaluru and the Kuakhai River in Bhubaneswar. Historical specimens from the Andaman Islands, previously labelled as A. moluccensis, were also found to be misidentified and actually belong to A. spinipes.

The rediscovery began after an aquarium hobbyist in Odisha spotted a shrimp in 2022, prompting systematic surveys across Udupi, Karwar and Mangaluru. Four female specimens were collected in Mulki and one in Odisha, all genetically matching.

Researchers warn the species may exist in very small, vulnerable populations as freshwater habitats face increasing pressure from pollution, sand mining and infrastructure development. All verified specimens have been deposited with the Zoological Survey of India for future reference.

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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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