BENGALURU: Shankar Shinde, father of the boy, who was made to walk 5 km back home to fetch a class work, said his son reached home around an hour later.
“We drop him at school and pick him up every day. On Friday, I had come home for lunch. Around 1.30pm the bell rang and I was shocked to see my son crying at the door. He narrated the entire episode. Apparently, he left school at 12.20pm and reached home almost an hour later,” said Shinde.
Around 2.15pm Shinde got a call from the school enquiring about Srinidhi.
“After two hours, they realised that the boy had not returned and called me up. I told them to wait and reached the school. When I questioned the principal over their action, they blamed my son,” he said. The next day, when Srinidhi attended school, the teacher returned his classwork note which he had submitted before taking medical leave.
“They did not have the courtesy to say sorry to my son. I am filing a complaint and hope they don’t repeat this kind of behaviour,” said Shinde.
However, Anuradha Shenoy, principal of the school, said, “The student had not told me that he was operated upon and only informed some teachers and staff, but not me. When they were asked to go home and bring the book, the child should have told he stays far away as I can’t keep information of all 400 students. When I directed them to go home and fetch the books, the boy did not say anything. Now, it has become my fault. The parent is agitated because some minor operation was done on the boy.”
Meanwhile the department of public instructions has taken cognisance of the case. “Corporal punishment is banned under RTE Act. We’ll seek reports from the concerned block education officer and initiate action against the school,” said Sowjanya, commissioner of the department.