31 March,2016 07:26 AM IST | | Pallavi Smart
Child rights panel has asked the school to explain why it made the remark on the ex-student’s school leaving certificate
The Maharashtra State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (MSCPCR) has pulled up Ryan International School in Chembur, questioning its choice of words in calling a former student a "problematic child" on his school leaving certificate.
The leaving certificate from Ryan International School in Chembur, which calls the child problematic
The commission was on Wednesday hearing a case filed by parents of a student from Sion against the institution for alleged relentless harassment, which forced them to shift school. The parents have alleged that the school targeted the Std IX student for complaining against corporal punishment by suspending him for over 20 days last December and then picking on him repeatedly by sending complaints through his school calendar and refusing to accept his projects.
The school did not send a representative at the hearing and was, therefore, directed to submit an affidavit within seven days, explaining its remark on the school leaving certificate.
At the hearing, AN Tripathi, secretary of MSCPCR, said, "The school's action is completely unacceptable. There was no reason to make such a remark on the child's school leaving certificate."
After learning that there was no representative from the school at the hearing, Tripathi instructed staff to send a final notice to the school to explain its action. "If the school fails to do so, then we have to assume that the school does not have a valid explanation for its act and the case will then be closed for a final decision," he said, firmly. The child's father, who was present at the hearing, said the remark on the school leaving certificate "would not only malign his background record for the future, but would adversely affect his mind." "We had to take the issue up with the child rights commission to show that the school had an agenda against my son," he added.
Spokesperson of the Ryan Group of Institutions Neti Srinivasan was unavailable for comments. Jayant Jain, president of NGO Forum for Fairness in Education, dubbed the remark "intolerable".
Quick recall
The student was suspended in December last year for unruly behaviour. But the parents alleged that he was targeted for complaining in October against a school teacher, who had slapped him six times for leaving the shirt collar button open. The school revoked the suspension after the parents took the issue up with the child rights commission.
The parents complained that the school started picking on the boy - he returned home with reprimanding remarks by teachers on the school calendar each day, his projects were rejected and he was barred from participating in extra-curricular activities. All of these began to take a toll on the student's self-confidence and mental health.
To prevent further alleged harassment, the child was shifted to a school in Airoli.
