NAGPUR: Chairperson of National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) Shantha Sinha has issued directives to the state education department to suspend three teachers working in a zilla parishad middle school at Yewati village in Amravati district for entering the premises in an inebriated condition on a regular basis. Directions were also issued by the chairperson to initiate action against the woman principal of Little Star Convent School in Mozari in the same district for brutally thrashing a class second girl student for not paying school fees in time.
NAGPUR: Chairperson of National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) Shantha Sinha has issued directives to the state education department to suspend three teachers working in a zilla parishad middle school at Yewati village in Amravati district for entering the premises in an inebriated condition on a regular basis. Directions were also issued by the chairperson to initiate action against the woman principal of Little Star Convent School in Mozari in the same district for brutally thrashing a class second girl student for not paying school fees in time.
A panel of NCPCR comprising Sinha, members Yogesh Dube, Lov Verma, Kiran Bhatty and retired judge H Suresh conducted a public hearing of Vidarbha region on violations of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 at the collectorate on Tuesday. As many as 25 complaints on the issues relating to corporal punishment, alcoholism among teachers and their inadequate strength in schools, denial of admission, lack of transport facilities, non-adherence to timing by teachers and absence of residential facilities for children of migrant families were highlighted. Over 300 people, including petitioners and those representing various sections of the society, attended the hearing.
District education officials from Amravati, Chandrapur, Nagpur, Washim and Gadchiroli, regional transport officers from Amravati and additional tribal commissioner, Amravati and Nagpur summoned by the commission for the hearing, were present.
The public hearing highlighted gross violations of the RTE Act. Issues of corporal punishment and infrastructure in schools emerged as the most problematic areas in relation to RTE in Vidarbha. It heard as many as four cases related to corporal punishment, six complaints of inadequate teachers’ strength in government schools, one denial of admission, three lack of transport facilities and two complaints of non-adherence to school timings by teachers.
The case of a child in Little Star Convent School, Mozari, was particularly shocking. The child was unable to pay her school fees on time. She was therefore brutally beaten up by her school principal and was bedridden for several days thereafter.
Another disturbing case was that of alcoholism among teachers in ZP middle school, Yewati in Nandgaon Khandeshwar block of Amravati district. Three teachers were found to be coming drunk to the school regularly. The panel also received complaints against teachers for sending children for purchasing alcohol and gutkha for them. Furthermore, they used foul language in schools. The commission directed that the three teachers be suspended with immediate effect, handed over to the police and charges pressed against them.
To address the issue of school dropouts, the commission members recommended to conduct a child tracking survey to enumerate such students in the coming academic session. Sinha also instructed the state government to take greater responsibility in ensuring that the RTE Act was implemented effectively.
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