Student calls parents 'Abbu', 'Ammi' after reading poem in textbook; father files complaint

The Dehradun District Magistrate has given instructions to Chief Education Officer to investigate the matter and submit the report findings at the earliest.

Dehradun (Uttarakhand): A parent in Dehradun has filed a complaint with the District Magistrate after objecting to a chapter in their child's class 2 textbook. The parent, Manish Mittal, has alleged that his son has started referring to him and his wife as "Abbu" and "Ammi" respectively, after reading the chapter in the Gul Mohar Part II textbook for Standard II students. Mittal has lodged a formal complaint with the District Magistrate's office, stating that he and his wife were taken aback when their son began using the terms to refer to them.

"When my son began calling me Abbu and his mother Ammi — we were taken aback. When I asked my son from where he picked up such things. My son showed me the chapter from his school textbook," Mittal wrote in his complaint.

"Earlier, I was not taking it seriously. But when my child began calling me Abbu and his mother Ammi, frequently. We were surprised. Hence, I decided to lodge a formal complaint before the Dehradun DM," Mittal added.

The Dehradun District Magistrate has instructed the Chief Education Officer to investigate the matter and submit a report at the earliest. The student in question attends a private school in Dehradun that is affiliated with the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSC). The student is seven years old.

Bansidhar Tiwari, Director General of the Uttarakhand Education Department, has said that the department is looking into the matter and will take appropriate action once the details of the complaint have been examined. Tiwari has emphasized that the department is trying to determine the context in which the complaint has been filed.