The Goa Education Department has issued a show cause notice to the management of a higher secondary school in connection to an incident in which pepper spray was used on 11 girl students. On Thursday, August 17, the girls were hospitalised after two fellow students, both boys, used pepper spray on them.
The school is located in Bicholim, North Goa. Director of Education, Shailesh Zingade, said that the management has been given three days to respond to the show cause notice. “I am expecting a reply from them by today (August 18) evening. I will go through the report they submit and then will decide about taking further action,” he said, as mentioned in a report by IANS.
The notice says, "Occurrences of such incidents in any educational institution are detrimental not only for the students but for the educational system as well. Therefore you are hereby directed to show cause as to why action deemed fit should not be initiated against the management for failing to prevent such incidents in the school premises."
The exact reason behind the boys using pepper spray is not yet clear, but sources at the school said they did it for fun. A senior police officer in Bicholim informed that the police have taken cognisance of the incident and asked the school management to submit the CCTV footage after their internal committee prepares a report.
“The students who used pepper spray are both minors. Hence, the internal committee of the school is conducting an inquiry into the incident. They will prepare a report and take action against the boys who sprayed pepper spray on the girls," the police said. According to the officials, the two accused boys had purchased the spray from an online shopping platform.
“Around 11 girl students felt a burning sensation and uneasiness and were rushed to the hospital. Some of them were discharged after treatment,” the senior police officer said, adding that a similar incident had taken place in the same school in the past and action was taken against two boys. “The culprits in both incidents are different. We are taking measures so that such cases are not repeated,” he stated, as per IANS.