After boy’s death, school gets stern warning
JAMSHEDPUR: The Jharkhand State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (JSCPCR) has warned Sidhu-Kanu Siksha Niketan, a residential school, and Birsa Seva Sansthan, an NGO, that their registration might be cancelled unless they rectified how they functioned.
The school has come under the scanner following the discovery of the half-burnt body of 10-year-old Shubham Mahato on Wednesday, near the school premises, located at Karanjo under Karaikela Police Station. The boy had gone missing from the school hostel on December 1, Saturday. Commission chairperson Arti Kujur visited the school after the body was found.
The Commission was in the process of seeking an explanation from the school management and the NGO, said the official. “The NGO and the school both are being run from the same premises and the school has no register. We’re seeking an explanation from the school management and the NGO as to who runs the school, and whether both have proper registration or not,” said Kujur. “I found gross violations of the provisions of the Child Rights Protection Act. The girls’ hostel is so congested that 76 girls are made to live in fourfive rooms. Of the 13 teachers in the school, only four were BEd; the rest are taking training.”
Kujur also asked the sub-divisional officer to set up security cameras in the school and hostel and to ensure the deployment of security guards by the school management. “There’s no security guard, no CCTV, the NGO has its office on the school premises, and there’s also a [structure] near the girls’ hostel where outsiders come frequently. The boundary wall is broken in pla- ces, posing a serious threat to the girls,” said Kujur.
“The girls are made to sleep on bunk beds, placed one above the other. More than one girl share each bunk. A clerk is teaching boys and girls, while the computer teacher also acts as the sports teacher. There’s no proper sewerage and drainage — the bathrooms are stinking dirty and there’s water-logging here and there,” added the official.