Kochi: Kerala High Court on Friday ruled that parents can decide what their children should write or recite during the Vidhyarambam ceremony. 

The 'Vidyarambham' ceremony is held on the last day of the Navaratri celebration in Kerala, wherein young children are introduced to the world of letters by urging them to recite and write either the alphabet or religious mantra on whole wheat or grains of rice.

Justice Devan Ramachandran made the observation while considering a petition seeking to withdraw a notice issued by the Municipal Library Committee in Mattannur Municipality as part of the Navaratri celebrations.

The notice mandated the children to write Harishree Ganapatayae Namah, Allahu Akbar, Praise to Jesus, Amma, Acha, regional and English alphabets as part of the ceremony. The petitioner, Haindaveeyam Foundation Kerala Chapter Convener K.R. Mahadevan, contended that parents are directed to recite prayers contrary to their religious beliefs. 

The Municipal Corporation, on the other hand, explained that they have been holding the event since 2014 and that diverse prayers have been included to entice various religious community members to join.

The court also observed that the ceremony could not be seen as a religious function as it was organised in a library. There is no need to interfere with such a programme, which is organised with a secular perspective and does not violate any laws. India is a multireligious country, the court declared. 

"...When a parent takes the child to the programme of this nature, which cannot be construed to be religious in its tenor – it is not conducted in any religious place, but in a library, the repository of words, in a manner of speaking – he or she expects it to be for initiation of knowledge and nothing else. Any attempt by anyone to colour this with any other shade, by forcing or inducing children to write or recite any prayer the contrary to their parent’s choice would, therefore, be anathema to free thought and freedom of belief," observed the High Court.