HYDERABAD: Even as the State Education Department is mulling permanent closure of Azaan International School, parents have asked the department to reconsider the decision as it would impact academic prospects of 1,600 children studying in the school. The department is considering closing down the school after two children were found to be allegedly raped/molested there.
The school has been shut for the last 10 days. On Wednesday, as many as 162 parents met the DEO and requested her not to close down the school. They fear changing school in the middle of the year would be difficult and pose financial and logistical issues. Zareena Shah, mother of a class 10 student, says though the sexual harassment charges cannot be dismissed, future of other students cannot be overlooked.
“An investigation is going on and the DEO should allow classes to continue under her supervision,” she says. “If there were lapses on the part of school management, take action against them. But, don’t shut down the school,” says Zareena. Ameen Mirza, another parent, says parents are worried about both the safety of their children and their academics.
Meanwhile, the school management has sent its response to the second notice from the DEO office. The management is learnt to have stood by its stand that there are no lapses from its side but has not substantiated it with any documentary proof. “In view of the serious nature of the incidents, closure of the school appears to be the most likely action. But we are looking at all possibilities. We don’t want any child to be affected,” said a senior official and ruled out the possibility of changing the management and running the school.
“The final decision on the fate of the school is likely to be taken later this week based on both incidents and the reply of the school. Though the parents refused to give any evidence or even produce the child before the inquiry committee in the second case, both incidents are being taken into account,” said B Ventaka Narasamma, DEO.
‘35L students to be affected if budget schools are shut down’
Unhappy at the government’s refusal to issue extension of temporary recognition (ETR) without insisting upon different No Objection Certificates -- fire, traffic and GHMC, the Telangana Recognised Schools Management Association (TRSMA) has called for a bandh of all budget schools on Friday. The term budget schools refers to schools which charge fee less than Rs 30,000. According to the TRSMA, the National Building Code came into force in 1998, fire NOC became mandatory in 2005 and traffic NOC from 2009 onwards, therefore nearly 80 per cent of schools established before these norms were enforced are now found to be violators. S Srinivas, president of TRSMA, alleged that the government is deliberately tightening the noose around the budget schools in order to shut them.
“As part of its KG to PG education programme, it plans to open up 500 more schools next year so they want to shut our schools. We are ready to even hand over the management of our schools to government so that it can run them government schools and regularise all our teachers too,” he said. There are 35 lakh students in 1,200 budgets schools across the State and closure of these schools will affect their future.