Navi Mumbai: Panvel school locks child in the dark for three hours

A Panvel school has become a living nightmare for those students whose parents have refused to pay the recently hiked fees following a revised fee structure The students of St Josephs High School have alleged harassment at the hands of their teachers claiming that they are being confined in rooms made to get their own exam answer sheets and not allowed class lessons for the last two weeksSt Josephs High School in Panvel has already been mired in controversy for arbitrarily hiking its fees thrice this yearIf that wasnt any worse the school has allegedly started holding two prayer sessions ndash instead of one ndash daily The second prayer is only for students who havent paid their fees yet We are asked to say Oh god give some sense to our pareshynts one student told midday The school has already been mired in controversy for hiking its fees thrice this yearFollowing an alarming spate of similar incidents parents recently approached officials of the District Child Protection Unit of Raigad which in turn filed a complaint with the Khandeshwar Police A total of nine students between Std V and IX have come forward and given their statements against the school While the police have filed a case probe is still onWe are being torturedParents said that the kind of torture being meted out to the kids is almost horrifying According to a 14yearold complainant in June this year right after her parents joined the protest against the revised fee hike her teacher Anita Mishra made her wait outside the class Later she took me into an isolated room and close the door behind me It was pitch dark inside and I was made to sit there for almost three hours To cover up the incident she didnt send me home with my father that day but instead dropped me in her own vehicle the Std IX student from St Josephs allegedIllustrationRavi JadhavAnother 11yearold student from Std VI said that the teachers have shifted the nonfee paying students to B division The students in this division are not given ID cards role numbers or notebooks Also nobody has been teaching us for the last 15 days We are only made to pray twice daily to drive sense into our parents said the studentAfter the Ganpati festival holidays some studshyents from Std V VII and X were also allegedly made to stand in the terrace for 90 minutes for not paying their fees During examinations we are asked to procure our own answer sheets and made to write the paper in the laboratory instead of the classroom another student saidProbe is onUpset with the ruthless attitude adopted by the school the parents on November 15 approached the District Child Protection unit The district child officials then held a meeting with the parents and students at the Panvel Municipal CorporationParents and students at a fee hike protest rally in Azad Maidan earlier this yearOn November 18 following a complaint by Ram Krishna Reddy district child protection officer Raigad and Ram Mhaske protection officer for noninstitution care the Khandeshwar Police registered a case against the school under various sections of the Juvenile Justice Act We have filed a complaint against nine different teachers and one supervisor from the school Reddy said We have also forwarded our complaint to the Child Rights Commission authorities and the education minister but are waiting to hear from them Mhaske addedWhen contacted S Nagre assistant police inspector Khandeshwar Police said No arrests have been made as investigations are still onDespite repeated attempts the principal of St Josephs High School was unavailable for comment School authorities werent even willing to share the principals name except for identifying her as Ms Fernandes