BANGALORE: The Vibgyor High school in Marathahalli is all set to resume academic activities from Monday after being closed for over a week following public outrage against the rape of a six-year old student in the school.
The school will start for Classes 5-10 on Monday, followed by Classes 1-4 on Wednesday and for pre-primary children on July 31. This outcome of a three-hour meeting on Thursday between parents, the school management, Education Department officials and police brought relief to scores of parents who were waiting outside the school for answers.
“It was a satisfactory meet and the management has addressed our concerns,” said Vandana Surana, a parent who briefed other parents outside. Media was not allowed to cover the proceedings of the meeting.
The agenda was to get the school started with a safer environment for children, and 11 demands were placed before the management.
“We asked for background checks on the staff before the school starts. This would begin in a staggered manner, first with the contracted and subcontracted staff whose background will be verified by Saturday. The school will check with two previous employers, but the reports won’t be shared with parents due to privacy issues,” Surana explained.
Safety of the school bus transportation was discussed at length and it was agreed by the management to install global positioning system devices in all buses. “The school also agreed to install in the buses a card-swipe mechanism that would alert parents that their kids were picked up or dropped with each swipe. This is a long-term solution though,” she said.
The school has also agreed to provide bearer cards for parents to check who pick up children after school.
The management asked parents to strictly adhere to this system, wherein no parent can enter the school without proper identification. Female maids would be hired to take responsibility of children till they are dropped off.
Representing the Vibgyor High management was Kavita Sahay, director — schools and academics, along with principal Alistair M Laporte, coordinators and teachers. South-4 Block Education Officer S M Ramesh represented the Department of Public Instruction. Police officers assured parents that 2-3 of them would be around the school in civil clothes, Surana added.
Task Force and Other Decisions
It was decided in the meeting that each of the 11 demands would be implemented through task forces comprising five parents who would work with the management. “The management would deal only with the task force members. The principal will be the face of the management,” Surana said.
A parents-teachers association would be established to which parents would be elected through a forum tentatively by September 12. Parents were informed that the management would remove the controversial clauses absolving its responsibility of children’s safety “if the government insists”.
BEO Ramesh said around 300 CCTVs would be installed and the process of identifying locations would start soon. It was also agreed upon that the school would not allow commercial use of its post-school activity facilities like the swimming pool.
Concerns Persist
Surana clarified to parents that the police investigation into the rape of the six-year-old girl would have a direct impact on the process of making the school safer. One parent asked, “What if the cops find out on August 15 that another person from the school was involved? My child would be studying with that person till then.”
There was no answer to parents who wanted to know if the management owned up for the incident.
There is no clarity on continuation of sports and performing arts (SPA) activities either. Prime accused Mustafa taught skating, a SPA facility. Surana said the management has promised extra security and manpower for SPA. Another parent who attended the meet said the decision on SPA was kept pending.
A section of parents voiced their opposition to the reopening of the school with the same management in place. Some parents do not want the principal and other staff members to continue. Parents suspect that they had a role to play in the alleged “cover-up” of the incident.
Affiliation
Allaying fears among parents over the school’s affiliation, Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) chairperson C M Jose Aikara told Express that the school received provisional affiliation in 2010, followed by permanent affiliation in 2013.
“The state government gave its NOC in 2007 and it doesn’t say anything that the school cannot run till it is affiliated. Even our rules are silent, because if we make rules for this interim period, we may contradict the state governments’.”
A former Vibgyor High principal said CISCE affiliation is required only if a school starts Class 9. “It was in 2010 that we started Class 9 and we got provisional affiliation the same year.”
Sit probe on
Bangalore: A special investigation team (SIT) on Thursday interrogated around 150 staff members of Vibgyor High. Police sources said some of them were questioned multiple times. They said they are reviewing the CCTV footage from the school and added that both the teaching and non-teaching staff would be interrogated thoroughly.
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