CHENNAI: G Sujatha wanted her son to be a police officer. She changed her mind when she realised that it would mean hours in the scorching heat which would ultimately make him ‘tired and dark.’ So she thought it was better for him to work at a bank where he would ‘be in an air-conditioned room and sanction loans to other people.’ G Santhosh, though, had other plans. He wanted to be an engineer and he promised his mother that he would get admission in Anna University.
He assured her that on becoming an engineer, he would buy his mother a house where she wouldn’t have to even lift a finger. “He fooled me,” Sujatha said. “He told me he would be there for me but where is he? He is nowhere! I work as a domestic help but I only drink canned water. People often laugh that I don’t drink any other water, but that is because of Santhosh. He did not want my health to suffer because of the water that we get here. He looked out for me at every step along the way, but now who will do that?”
Santhosh was among the three students who drowned in the backwaters of the Mulshi dam when they went swimming on Wednesday. The students, belonging to ECI Matriculation School in Tondiarpet, were part of a group of 20 ‘bright’ students who were taken on a fully paid summer camp. The camp was allegedly organised by the non-governmental organisation, Teach For India (TFI) in collaboration with Pune-based Jackukine School of Thought. The TFI’s fellows had been teaching some students in the school and Express tried to contact spokespersons from the organisation but none was available for comment. Most parents are blaming the school for trying to wash their hands off the issue while others blamed the NGO.
“I did not want to send him,” said Sujatha. “And I am now cursing myself for giving in. But what could I have done when my son begged me to send him because it would benefit his future? I do not have the money to take him anywhere and here was the school telling us that it would be a trip where they will get good exposure and will benefit their future. How could I have denied him the opportunity?”
She added that the school had called for a meeting where all parents of the ‘chosen’ ones were made to watch a presentation and convinced that the camp would give the children a very good exposure.
An official from the Directorate of Matriculation Schools told Express that school had not obtained prior permission from the School Education Department before taking the students outside the State. The school, on its part, allegedly told the police that it had assumed that since it was summer vacation, it did not need to take permission.
“Summer holidays started on April 20 and the school didn’t ask for permission as they took the students after that,” the official said. He added that the officials had issued a “show-cause” notice, responding to which, the school should submit an explanation for the incident. “Action will be taken against the school based on the explanation they file.” Commenting on the involvement of the NGO, he said that the school would act as the nodal point between the government and the students. “The school collaborated with the NGO and it is first answerable to us.”
For Dilkash Raja, the trip was traumatic. He was with his younger brother, Danish Raja, when the incident unfolded and was by his side when Danish breathed his last. “None of us knew how to swim and neither did the teacher,” Raja said. “Danish and Santhosh were going deeper into the water. Saravana was feeding biscuits to the fish. I was also playing on the land and decided to jump in but as soon as I got in, I realised it was quite deep and that the surface was uneven so I got out somehow and told sir. He immediately got the other children out safely but Danish, Santhosh and Saravana were too far in.”
He recounted that Danish was a well-built boy and managed to put his hand out for help about five minutes later. However, by then, the other two friends had drowned. Danish was pulled out and taken to the hospital but since the place was supposedly in the middle of nowhere, it took them two hours to get to the hospital. “My sister has gone insane,” said Dilkash’s aunt N Zarana. “The doctors are advising us to give her shock treatment. She is in shock. She starts wailing and then just stares into space and starts laughing sometimes. She could not even see her son properly because he came in such a horrible state.”
Officials from the Directorate said all school heads would be called for a meeting to be sensitised on safety during travels and protocols to be followed before taking children to camps. However, for S Lakshmi, S Saravana Kumar’s mother, none of this makes a difference. “Will my fighting with anyone bring my son back?” she asked helplessly. “I just want to ensure my son’s friends are safe now.”
The rest of the 17 children are expected to be back on Saturday. “There is utter confusion,” said M Fatima, mother of Abdul Rehman. “I don’t know why they are delaying bringing back the children and I don’t know what the teachers have been telling them. The night of the incident, Abdul told me he wanted to sleep at 9 and he never sleeps early. I got suspicious and asked him the next day and he began crying and said that the teachers had told the children not to say anything till the bodies of Saravana and Santhosh were found. Why were they asking the children to hide the truth?”
(Inputs from Sushmitha Ramakrishnan)