‘Several lapses, non-compliance of guidelines and Pocso Act’: CBSE issues show cause notice to private school in Jaipur after student’s death

“There have been several lapses with regard to proper monitoring of movement of students from one floor to another as in the present case the deceased candidate had gone to the fourth floor without being noticed, non-compliance of guidelines/circulars related to anti-bullying policy, POCSO Act, building safety etc, and the school management also failed to maintain healthy atmosphere in the school,” the notice stated, pointing to the findings of the inspection committee.

The notice has asked the school’s manager to explain, within 30 days, why penalties under the Board’s Affiliation Bye-Laws may not be imposed on the school.

The Affiliation Bye-Laws of 2018 provide for penalties including a fine of up to Rs. 5,00,000, suspension of affiliation for a definite period, and withdrawal of affiliation.

The findings recorded by the committee included the observation that students were not wearing ID cards, so it took time to establish the student’s identity, that the school must have safety steel nets on higher floors to avoid accidents, and “unnecessarily spot of fall was washed that was to be kept intact for forensic analysis.”

The committee has also submitted that a dedicated staff member must watch CCTV surveillance to monitor unusual movements of students, “like why a student of class 4 was moving to higher floors”, when the student’s class was situated on the ground floor.

The committee also visited the student’s parents. “As per the statements of the parents given to the committee, it is clear that the school did not take any preventive and proactive action on the repeated complaints of bullying and teasing by the classmates. The class teacher and the school management were very well aware about the harassment and the trauma being faced by the deceased child,” the notice stated.

It added: “The conversation and communications made by the parents to the class teacher and the school management went unheard. School did not take any action…The deceased child and the other students were never presented before the counselor.”

As per the parents’ statements in the committee’s report, the student faced incidents of bullying for 1.5 years.

The school principal has not responded to calls and texts seeking comment.

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