Vadodara

Sanskrit

Benaras Hindu University

BHU

Sardar Patel University

: In the narrow by-lanes of minority-dominated Yakutpura area, several Muslim students chantshlokas in their classes every morning. Their teacher, Aabid Saiyad, is quick to correct the slightest of mistakes while ensuring that all students enjoy learning the ancient language.This has been 46-year-old Saiyad’s routine for the last 22 years, ever since he became a teacher in MES Boys’s High School. But unlike professor Feroze Khan, who is facing bitter protests over his appointment in’s () Sanskrit department, Saiyed has never faced resistance - neither from Hindus nor his own community.The protests over Khan’s appointment have been raging for a fortnight now and the agitating group of students are flashing placards, screaming ‘Muslims can’t teach Sanskrit,’ drawing condemnation from various quarters.But Saiyad firmly believes that religion and faith can’t be an impediment to imparting knowledge. “Knowledge can be imparted by anybody and who teaches is not important, until it is delivered in the right way. A non-Muslim too should be able to teach Arabic and the vice-versa. Language is to be taught as a language,” said Saiyad, an MA in Sanskrit and English from the Vallabh Vidyanagar-basedSaiyad, who has grown up chanting Sanskrit shlokas in his school days, has been conducting Sanskrit classes at this school since 1998. However, when he had joined as a teacher, only a handful of pupils opted for the ancient language.“Now, there are 166 students in Class IX, almost all of them Muslims, who are learning Sanskrit,” said Saiyad, who urges youngsters to follow the moral teachings imbibed in the language to enrich their lives.In fact, Saiyad’s daughter, Izma Banu, a first-year student of MBBS at Baroda Medical College, had not only topped in her Class X exams in 2017, but she also scored the highest marks in Sanskrit with 98%.“I have been studying Sanskrit since Class V. I know everything, be it ‘shlokas’, ‘nataks’, ‘hasyakhand’ and even ‘varta’. It is an easy subject. If Sanskrit is offered at higher levels, I will continue with the subject,” said Sabina Mohammed Wahid Ansari, a class IX student of the school.Mohammed Raeesh Kabutarwala, a Class X student, wants to take up science and later pursue engineering. “But Sanskrit is one subject which has helped me improve my score. I have studied Sanskrit since primary and have good command over ‘shlokas’ and ‘natyakhand’,” he said.