New Delhi, July 19 (IANS). The Delhi government has issued a show cause notice to the management of a Janakpuri-based private school over serious security violations, illegal branch operations and large-scale financial irregularities.
Education Minister Ashish Sood has directed the Directorate of Education to take the strictest possible action against the trust that runs the school and its leadership, an official said on Sunday.
According to the official, the school has been given 7 days to file its reply. In case of non-response, the proposed strict action will be initiated immediately.
Ashish Sood said that Delhi government will not tolerate any compromise with the safety and dignity of children.
He said, “A school is ‘in loco parentis’ (in the role of a parent). It has legal and moral responsibility for every child present in the school premises. If an institution hides a serious crime like child abuse, runs illegal branches in the basements of residential buildings and misuses public funds, we will not remain silent.”
He said that the government is ready to take over the management of the school completely and also recommend canceling the lease of its land.
The official investigation conducted at several stages by special committees of the Directorate of Education has revealed serious negligence in administrative, financial and ethical responsibilities at the school.
According to the statement, the investigation has revealed indications of an attempt to hide the incident of sexual harassment. It was reported that on April 30, a girl of nursery class was allegedly sexually assaulted in the pre-primary wing of the school.
Investigation revealed that the school management did not inform the Directorate of Education about this serious incident, which is a violation of mandatory child protection laws.
The investigation also found flaws in the security system. When the police reached the pre-primary branch to investigate the matter, the 64 CCTV cameras installed there were found to be completely damaged. The statement said the school had knowingly not entered into any contract for the maintenance of the cameras.
According to the investigation report, the school was illegally running nursery and KG classes from a private residential building located in Narang Colony without permission.
Additionally, the basement of this illegal building was being used as an unsupervised activity area for small children.
The statement said that the school also did not have a child protection policy, child protection committee and POCSO trained nodal officer. Apart from this, mandatory police verification of security personnel was also not done.
–IANS
AMT/DSC
