Govt panel gives clean chit to Oxford School

[1]

The management and teachers of the Oxford Indian School in Nandini Layout have been a clean chit by an inquiry committee constituted by the government to look into allegations that five children admitted under RTE to the school were humiliated and had tufts of their hair cut to brand them as different from the other students.

Education minister Mr. Vishweshwar Hegade Kageri, said the committee headed by Bengaluru North DDPI, Mr. Chandraiah, which had submitted its report to the government, had found no evidence that the school management or teachers were responsible for cutting the children's hair. “The incident took place in the craft class and it was another student who cut their hair,” he said.

School chairman, Ajith Prabhu, meanwhile offered an unconditional apology for the incident to members of various social organisations gathered before the school gate.

“The school is always open to the poor and the management will ensure that no such incident is ever repeated,” he said. Although the school reopened on Friday after four days, there was thin attendance.

While PU and high school students turned out in big number, only a handful of students attended the primary classes. In fact only eight children turned up in Class I which was in the eye of the storm over the alleged ill treatment of students admitted to the school under RTE.

Most classmates of the five said a boy had cut their hair and not the teacher. “All students were sitting on the third bench, when our classmate cut their hair,” said Samparna(name changed), one of the students.

“The incident took place during craft class. The student who cut hair was warned,” said another student, Reshmi (name changed) .

The Nandini Layout police have, however, registered a case against the Oxford school management under sections 323, 505 and 23of JS Act 2000 ( Cruelty towards children) and is investigating the complaint against it.

Meanwhile, neither the police nor school management responded to the summons issued to them by the CWC. Although they were directed to appear before it at 12.30pm, none of them did, said a CWC staffer.