The Uttar Pradesh government has ordered an inquiry against a state-run primary school in Deoria district for having its weekly holiday on Fridays instead of Sundays. The school also maintains all official documents in Urdu, reported The Times of India.

District Magistrate Sujit Kumar asked Basic Shiksha Adhikari Santosh Kumar Dev Pandey to take appropriate action after the investigation. “It is a serious issue that the school remains closed on Fridays instead of Sundays without any order or direction,” Kumar told PTI.

“Strict action will be taken against those responsible for this,” he said. “The school will now remain closed on Sundays, and instructions have been issued to take action against the principal of the school. A detailed probe will be done.”

The inquiry was ordered after Salempur Block Education Officer Gyanchand Mishra received a complaint against principal Khurshid Ahmad. Mishra then sent a team of two officers to the school. “The officials reached the school on Friday [July 20] around 9.45 am,” said Mishra. “They found the school to be closed and ‘Islamia Primary School, Navalpur’ was written outside the building instead of ‘Primary School, Navalpur’.”

Ahmad said the school had the practice of having an off on Fridays even before he joined in 2008. He said 95% of the students were Muslims and hence the school remained closed on Fridays. “The principal’s claim about the practice being in existence before he joined will be probed as well,” Basic Shiksha Adhikari Pandey said.

The school has five teachers, including Ahmad, and around 90 students.