Students flee another Navodaya school

Last Saturday, 43 students of Navodya Vidyalya at Pojewal mustered the courage to flee the ‘‘tyranny’’ of school. Two da...

Last Saturday, 43 students of Navodya Vidyalya at Pojewal mustered the courage to flee the ‘‘tyranny’’ of school. Two days on, only 29 have been traced, while the rest are still missing.

Such an exodus is becoming increasingly common in Navodya Vidyalyas, not only at Pojewal, but also in neighbouring Ferozepur. The reason: mental and physical harassment by teachers.

The 29 students, who were found at Gill Farms in Dallewal village yesterday, blamed the ‘‘strict’’ Physics teacher and the school principal for forcing them to flee school. One of them, Ravinder Singh, said the food was sub-standard and there was no one to listen to their complaints. ‘‘Our teachers threaten to give us zero in the internal assessment if we tell on them to the school inspectors,’’ he said.

‘‘I was mercilessly beaten up with a cricket bat when I didn’t attend a class because of an illness,’’ said Ravinder.

Jagdeep Singh, Tinkoo Kumar and Lakveer Singh said they were falsely accused of beating up a Class VI student, Surinder Singh. ‘‘He is a relative of the principal and didn’t want to continue his studies here because of the poor infrastructure. So, the principal concocted this story.’’

When contacted over the phone, principal Devinder Singh dismissed the allegations. He said a Class XII student had masterminded the plot to escape, as he was shifted to another school after he quarreled with a girl in his class. ‘‘This happened on September 27 last year, and following an inquiry by the assistant director (Navodya Vidyalya), the boy was shifted to a school at Pathankot.’’

The principal said the boy had returned with his father on Saturday, seeking admission at Pojewal. ‘‘When I expressed my helplessness, the duo threatened me and then instigated the boys of Class XII and X,’’ he said. While 14 students of Class XII fled the school at 5 pm, 29 from Class X followed suit around 10 that night.

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The principal admitted that deputy director M.L. Sharma, SDM, Balachaur, S. M. Sharma and former MLA Ram Kishan Kataria had convened a meeting on January 26 to look into the students’ complaints.

The 14 Class XII students, who are still missing, reportedly rang up the school DPE to find out what treatment was being meted out to those who have returned. The parents are hopeful that they will return once they come to know that their juniors have not been punished.

Police parties have been sent to Anandpur Sahib, Naina Devi and Chintpurni, where langar is served, in search of the students.