Uttarakhand Man Wants Ban On English Textbook After Son Calls Him 'Abbu'

A certain poem in a Class 2 ICSC English textbook has led a father to file a complaint to the District Magistrate in Uttarakhand’s Dehradun. Identified to be Manish Mittal, the man was reportedly shocked when his child address him as ‘Abbu.’ The parents quickly found that their child had learned the terms ‘Ammi’ and ‘Abbu’ from a poem in an English textbook. The father has urged Dehradun DM to remove the alleged controversial texts with their English equivalents ‘mother’ and ‘father’, as per The New Indian Express. Mittal reportedly deems the context as a ‘misguided’ practice in the school’s curriculum.

“This is a serious matter and a severe attack on our faith and religious beliefs,” he was quoted as saying. The complaint has been reportedly escalated to the Chief Education Officer.

Pradeep Kumar, who is the Chief Education Officer, in a statement, confirmed that he has read the texts in the book. The matter is scheduled to be discussed with the ICSC board, “We will also call the principals of some schools and hold a meeting,” added Kumar.

The incident has left people on Twitter with varied reactions. While some users couldn’t understand how the texts could hurt ‘religious sentiments’, a section discussed how the parents wouldn’t mind the child using the English equivalents ‘Mom’ and ‘Dad’ for their Hindi counterparts ‘Mata’ and ‘Pita’.

A user wrote, “The 1st paragraph of the (complaint) letter is still valid. It’s an English notebook and there is no point in using ‘Ammi Abbu’ instead of ‘Mother Father’ in an English notebook. I found the application valid, but it lost its way when he said his religious sentiment got hurt.”

Another agreed, “What the hell, how on earth is it hurting religious sentiments, why are people running away from the fact there could be many other ways to call your parents.”

One more joined the discussion saying, “My children call my mother Ammi – they call her Amma and sometimes shorten it to something simpler, sweeter and loving – Ammi.”

The complainant has urged the authorities to take prompt action in the matter.

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