MEDAK: A day after it was revealed that 150 girls at a residential school here had their hair cropped — allegedly due to a water shortage and wounds on their scalps — preliminary inquiries on Wednesday showed that none of the students’ parents was consulted before the drastic step was taken. The police and other officials, who conducted the inquiries, blamed the principal, K Aruna, and staff of the Tribal Girls Gurukul School, saying they overreacted by cutting the girls’ hair.
The principal had only discussed the idea with the Gurukul schools regional coordinator in advance, the officials said. The parents, who have been protesting for the past two days, said that as per their tradition, girls’ hair must not be cropped, and the principal’s actions hurt their sentiments. Members of the Lambada Hakkula Porata Committee staged a dharna at the Medak collectorate on Wednesday and submitted a memorandum to the joint collector, a day after the parents protested at the school.
BC welfare officer D Sudhakar visited the hostel on Tuesday night and submitted a preliminary report to the collector, stating that the parents were not kept in the loop. The collector said the action would be taken against those responsible once a complete report was submitted. It is learnt that the government has sought a report from intelligence officials, who visited the hostel on Wednesday.