On Saturday, the All India Milli Council (AIMC), a Muslim organisation formed in September 2008, protested against the non-inclusion of any Muslim freedom fighter in the list of names prepared by the board after whom the buildings were renamed. Following the protest, the board has now decided to make amends.

Earlier, all the 115 primary schools located in 64 buildings were recognised by numbers. In August 2008, the Primary Education Board decided to replace the numbers with names of freedom fighters and historical personalities. The board had formed a committee to decide upon 64 names for the school buildings, which were announced publicly on September last year.

“Out of 64 names, was it so difficult to include Muslim freedom fighters who are equally important to national history? We demand the board to include at least 15 such names as well,” said Munir Kheruwala, Gujarat spokesperson for AIMC.

The board, on the other hand, chose to call the matter as a political stunt. “The names were chosen by the committee without any bias. It is almost six months that the names have been declared publicly. If they had any problem, they should have notified when the name selection was in process,” said Mehul Zaveri, chairman of the Primary Education Board.