Just last week, India woke up to the horror story of the murder of 7-year-old Pradhuman Thakur.
A Ryan International School (Bhondsi, Gurugram) student, Thakur was found murdered by a fellow classmate when he went to use the washroom.
On the same day, investigators arrested the bus conductor Ashok Kumar who tried to allegedly sexually abuse Thakur and then murdered him in cold blood. However, this is still being investigated by the police.
The fateful day of Thakur’s death
Upon further investigations school gardener, Harpal Singh told the Times of India, “Ashok Kumar carried Pradhuman and placed him in the rear seat of the car which was driven to hospital by a school bus driver, while suspended Principal Neerja Batra headed to hospital in her personal car.”
“I did not see any suspicious activities of Ashok Kumar and he was behaving normally although his shirt was also soaked in blood as he carried Pradhuman. He was very simple. I do not know if he killed Pradhuman, which is what the police is claiming, it is a matter of investigation,” he added.
As Singh noted, the police is still investigating this case and in doing so they revealed shocking callousness on the part of the school.
Ryan International School too callous?
The TOI report states that upon hearing about Thakur’s death, a school teacher reportedly told one of his classmates to clean his blood soaked bag and bottle.
The child has gotten so traumatised that he told the daily, “I do not wish to go to school as someone murdered Pradhuman. I used to play with him in school. Someone will also slit my throat, now I am afraid.”
Incidentally, right after this news came out several parents whose kids were previously in this franchise or were still studying shared their own harrowing experiences with the school.
#Case 1
One Harsh Khanna shared pictures and videos of an impromptu check that parents from the school’s Faridabad branch did and the results were disturbing.
Soon after the parents found discrepancies in safety norms of the Faridabad branch, the police was called and more details of callousness of the school came to fore.
But a shocking report that was just released shares another story of the school’s Chembur, Mumbai, branch.
#Case 2
In 2015, Yash Singh a class IX student of the franchise’s Chembur branch was beaten up by a teacher. Instead of suspending the teacher, the school humiliated and reportedly suspended Singh for 45 days.
His parents have been fighting against the school for over two years now and shared their ordeal with a daily.
Image courtesy: India Today
“When I spoke to the teacher concerned she initially agreed that Shehad hit the child but it wasn’t a hard blow. Later the school completely denied the incident. First they informed us that they have removed the teacher but to our surprise she was reinstated,” Yash’s father, Amit Singh told the daily.
The family also alleges that Grace Pinto, the founder of Ryan Group personally came to threaten Singh in the class.
“Grace Pinto madam came to my class and asked me whether I was the “famous” boy who has approached the media? She also asked me that whether the teacher broke my bones that I was going around in the town bringing bad name to the school,” shares the student.
With one case after the other tumbling out Ryan International School and the entire group will have to work to prove their innocence. They will also have to prove that all their safety standards are in place.
Here are the child safety norms all schools must follow!
But as parents, we also have the responsibility to make sure to question the safety norms in a school. As stated earlier in our article, here are some of the things you must note when admitting your ward.
- Ask your child if he/she feels safe in his or her school and where it is that they feel the safest (within the premises). This will tell you about the safety procedures of the school and the guards they may have employed.
- Ask the authorities about the procedure to report irregularities. Also make sure to know how long it takes for them to reach a solution and how they implement corrective measures.
- Ask the school authorities if they have a safety procedure in place, especially in case of medical emergency. Also make sure to ask if they have communicated the same to the students.
- Enquire about the training that the school administration, personnel and staff has undergone in case of an emergency. You must also be informed if regular drills take place in the school to prepare everybody for unforeseen circumstances.
- Finally, ask them how you as a parent can help with better informing and preparing a child as far as safety is concerned.
Read: Shocking! 5-year-old Delhi rape victim informed teacher about the assault who turned him away
