Prophet Muhammad PBUH was anti-war, says Maneka Gandhi

New Delhi: Union women and child development (WCD) minister Maneka Gandhi on Monday said that the school students must be taught from six major religious texts, including Gita, Quran and Bible, to develop tolerance against each other.

She raised the matter at Central Advisory Board of Education meeting and now plans to move to human resource development (HRD) ministry, asking them to have classes on religious texts at least twice a week, quotes Hindustan Times.

“These days, there is a lot of religion-based tension. One of the reasons is that children don’t know enough of other religions, and operate on blind hatred. Teaching from scriptures of major religions such as Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Islam will help dispel religious stereotypes that students develop at a young age,” Gandhi said.

“How many of us have read our religious scriptures? I have read the Quran. How many of us know that Prophet Mohammed was anti-war? We were taught moral science during our school days, but it is not done anymore,” Gandhi said.

Speaking of the ways playschools across the country operate, she said that although the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights has framed guidelines for their regulation, they are hardly enforced.

“The WCD ministry has no feet on the ground to do it (regulate playschools). Enforcement has to be done by the HRD ministry. I have requested the HRD minister to take up this issue, so we can work jointly towards a solution,” Gandhi said.