A month after the police arrested the top management of a privately-run School for the Deaf in Coimbatore, parents are refusing to accept the closure of the school and want it opened ASAP — even if it means that it is run by the same management that has been accused of routinely sexually molesting special children for at least half a decade.
Around 110 students study at the private school for the deaf from Class Six to Class Twelve and without any warning, the school has been shut down by the District Collector. Rather strangely, the parents don't seem to mind that the very same management was complicit in hiding the abuse for years together. "The administration seems to have brainwashed these parents, the mostly come from rural backgrounds and are desperate. They are worried about their children and afraid that they have to discontinue or lose out on a year," S Namburajan, general secretary, Tamilnadu Association for the Rights of All Type of Differently Abled Caregivers.(TARATDAC)
S Namburajan, General Secretary, TARATDAC
About a month ago, two former students filed a case against the correspondent of the school, claiming he had been sexually abusing them and other girls at the school for years and even though members of the management knew, nobody said a word. A new teacher at the school investigated the matter after he noticed several students who didn't leave the school in spite of graduating and found out the ugly truth behind it.
After the arrest of the accused, the district collector directed the school to be shut down. "The parents have been told that the children will get admission but they can't just admit them in regular schools, they don't have any facilities to make the environment conducive to the hearing-impaired children. Also, in special schools, there should be just one teacher for eight students and that target will already be met by other special schools, so you can't just dump more children on them, it's unfair to both these students and the already registered students," Namburajan explained.
All the 110 students could easily lose a year because of the shutdown, which is what is getting the parents riled up. The government should take up the issue and have someone from the state run the school and not include any member of the present management, advise activists. "If the state takes up the responsibility then the parents will be happy, they are just worried for their children. If they can be assured that school will start functioning, as usual, they will not mind who runs it," he said.
