Nagpur: Suicide attempt by 4 students at I-Day function

“They were carrying notes in their pockets that cited complaints about the lack of facilities at their school, including the lack of teachers,” said Sandip Diwan, Superintendent of Police, Chandrapur .

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Chandrapur MP Hansraj Ahir, Ballarpur MLA and Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar and a host of other government officials rushed to the hospital to meet the students. Mungantiwar promised strict action against the authorities running the private-aided school and asked them to fight on.

Social activist Paromita Goswami, who met the students, said, “The lack of facilities at such schools is common across India. But what is more serious is that the students possibly had no grievance-redressal cell to fall back on, making them take such a drastic step. Lack of facilities isn’t a big issue but as I could understand, after talking to them, they were frustrated with the non-availability of teachers, a subject they are unsuccessful to take up with the school authorities.”

Goswami added, “Each school is supposed to have a management committee comprising representatives from parents, education experts, women, SC/ST communities, panchayat members, etc. These committees apparently go defunct or remain only on papers. So, the school authorities can afford to ignore the complaints of the students.”