RGS senior teacher’s rebuke of students for ‘praying’ to statue sparks debate online

News of group of girls from this premier secondary school being instructed to write letters of apology after being seen “dancing, chanting and praying” to a statue of the Greek Goddess Athena in the school grounds has set off a minor firestorm online.

The teacher in charge of Year 1 at Raffles Girls School is said to have not only made her extreme disapproval clear in a notice sent to  all Year 1 students and form teachers but also required each student involved to write a letter of apology.

The students were instructed to explain why they should not be disciplined for their unbecoming behaviour” and for choosing to “tarnish the reputation of not just the Year 1 students but all RGS girls”. 

While some netizens saw the incident and its aftermath as trivial, others have interpreted it as a breach of Article 15 of the Constitution of Singapore, which states that “Every person has the right to profess and practise his religion and to propagate it.”

The event took place several weeks ago, but an update has sparked a new conversation. News that none of the students has since been disciplined inspired netizens to vent in an online forum  with several citing the protection Constitution.

According to the website ipay.rgs.edu.sg, Athena is the Greek Goddess of wisdom and intelligent warfare.  “For RGS, she stands for wisdom, industry, energy and creativity  – qualities that a RGS pupil aspires to have”, it says.

The Year 1 head says in her rebuke to the students that “praying to the statue of Athena, even if done in jest, is unacceptable.”  She then adds:

“If you do subscribe to a religion, let me remind you that your action is sacrilegious. If you do not subscribe to a religion, your action is still unacceptable as it offends the school community that expects our school to be a secular environment for learning.”

Several commenters decided the incident was some sort of exam ritual. Others saw the disapproval of the Year 1 head to be ironic. Still others saw the whole thing to be a laughing matter, with one even saying, “You all literally put a statue of a god there then complain about it being used….”

Others argued that the argument of the Year 1 head didn’t make sense. One netizen even wrote, “So if I’m religious, I can pray to whichever god I want, but if I am not religious, I cannot pray? Dude the logic hurts my head.”

Only just learned about students from Singapore’s top girls’ school getting into trouble for praying to the school’s statue of Athena 😂 frankly I’m with the girls, I think it’s a perfectly reasonable thing to do. You put a goddess of wisdom statue & you expect girls not to stan? pic.twitter.com/1AnwlxPtpy

— Visakan Veerasamy (@visakanv) March 22, 2022