In Gujarat, right-wing Hindutva organisations are increasingly converting routine quarrels among schoolchildren into communal flashpoints, with ordinary playground scuffles or classroom disputes being inflated into conspiracies in which Muslim students are consistently placed on the other side, according to The Wire.
What should have remained isolated instances of youthful indiscipline are being harnessed as opportunities for polarisation, turning schools into theatres of ideological battles rather than safe spaces for learning.
One example of this communal division being created in schools was the stabbing incident in Ahmedabad on August 19, where a clash between a Hindu and a Muslim student was used by the Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad, who gathered parents and guardians against the school, leading to vandalism, protests, and demands to bar Muslim students from admission.
What began as an incident of violence among teenagers was reframed as a confrontation between Hindus and Muslims, with the communal identity of one accused youth being weaponised to cast aspersions on an entire community.
Barely two days later, a similar chain of events unfolded in Vadali, around 150 kilometres from Ahmedabad, when a minor scuffle in which a Hindu student sustained scratches was repackaged by local right-wing leaders as an organised communal attack.
The Sheth CJ High School became another site of disruption as Hindutva outfits, including the VHP, Bajrang Dal, ABVP and others, staged protests and pressured the administration to expel Muslim students by forcing the issue of school leaving certificates. The spread of such protests, accompanied by bandhs and rallies, demonstrated how isolated disputes are being repurposed into campaigns for exclusion.
The trend is not restricted to recent clashes, as past incidents reveal an entrenched bias that is now being institutionalised. In January, the same Vadali school witnessed the brutal beating of a Muslim Class 11 student by Hindu teachers, after which the child was denied both hospital care and the opportunity to continue education.
The refusal to grant a school leaving certificate compounded the trauma, and family members alleged that other Muslim children in the school were subjected to taunts, reinforcing the sense of insecurity and exclusion.
Activists have warned that the unchecked ability of mobs and organisations to intimidate schools and dictate policies based on religion is deepening segregation among children. The consequence is the erosion of inter-community communication at the earliest stages of socialisation, as Hindutva groups succeed in converting interpersonal tensions into collective hostilities.
Minority-run institutions, particularly Christian schools, become especially vulnerable because they stand at the intersection of anti-Muslim and anti-minority campaigns.