A group of parents protested outside a private school in the Tis Hazari area on Monday alleging that their wards were attacked with blades and verbally abused by their seniors inside the school premises.
The parents also alleged that some pills were mixed in their wards’ water bottles by Class 9 students and due to this, some of them had to be rushed to hospitals as their condition deteriorated.
While calls and an email to the school authorities on the allegations did not elicit a response, police officials said the issue has been sorted by the parents and the school authorities mutually and no complaint has been received.
Parents of several children who complained of abusive incidents at school gathered outside the school premises and raised slogans.
Dilshad, the father of a Class 7 student whose water was allegedly spiked, claimed his daughter vomited and was foaming at the mouth after drinking it.
“Someone in my daughter’s school mixed some pills in her water bottle and she vomited after drinking it. When she returned from school, she was foaming at the mouth and we rushed her to a doctor. This incident happened on August 18 and we spoke to the class teacher about it the same day,” Dilshad claimed.
“The class teacher told me not to speak to the principal about it and said that she will look into the matter. However, no action was taken by her and I planned to visit the school on August 22. The class teacher then told me that they checked the CCTV footage and couldn’t find anyone mixing anything in my daughter’s water bottle,” he said.
Mohammad Abbas, the father of a Class 8 student, said his daughter has been complaining about incidents of “blade attacks” in the school for the last 15 to 20 days.
“Distressed parents had no other option but to break the main gate (of the school) as we wanted answers from the school authorities. We wanted the school to assure us that our children are safe inside the school premises. We also asked them to install more CCTV cameras to avoid such a situation in future and to suspend the students who have been attacking their juniors,” he said.
“The school principal has agreed to install more CCTV cameras and assured that more guards will be deployed inside the school premises. We were also assured that students’ bags will be checked thoroughly before their classes,” he said.
Shamim Ansari, the father of a Class 6 student, also alleged that his daughter told him that her classmates have had similar experiences over the last month.
“My daughter told me that some of her classmates were attacked with blades and that pills were mixed in their water bottles by some senior students. We visited the principal’s office on Monday to talk about these issues but she refused to accept that anything like this happened,” Ansari alleged.
According to a senior police official, the matter has been sorted out amongst the parents and the school management.
“The parents left after they got a written assurance from the principal,” a senior police official said.
Aparajita Gautam, president of the Delhi Parents Association, said the school must take action.
“It is the duty of the school to ensure the safety of students and take action to check these incidents. Action must be taken against those responsible,” she said.
Read: Bengal: Violence in schools on rise after pandemic, say teachers
Posted in News, States
