A group of parents whose wards study in a private school located in Delhi's Tis Hazari area complained that their children were attacked with blades by senior students. They staged a protest regarding this matter outside the school premises on Monday, August 29. Parents of several children who complained of abusive incidents at the school gathered there and raised slogans.
The parents also alleged that their wards were verbally abused by Class IX seniors. Additionally, they claimed that the senior students mixed some pills in their children's water bottles and some had to be rushed to hospitals as their conditions deteriorated, as mentioned in a PTI report.
Dilshad, the father of a Class VII student whose water was allegedly spiked, claimed that his daughter was in a bad state. "Someone in my daughter's school mixed some pills in her water bottle and she vomited after drinking it. When she returned from school, she was foaming at the mouth and we rushed her to a doctor. This incident happened on August 18 and we spoke to the class teacher about it the same day," he said.
"The class teacher told me not to speak to the principal about it and said that she will look into the matter. However, no action was taken by her and I planned to visit the school on August 22. The class teacher then told me that they checked the CCTV footage and couldn't find anyone mixing anything in my daughter's water bottle," he added, as per PTI.
At the same time, Mohammad Abbas, the father of a Class VIII student, said his daughter has been complaining about incidents of "blade attacks" in the school for the last 15 to 20 days. "Distressed parents had no other option but to break the main gate (of the school) as we wanted answers from the school authorities. We wanted the school to assure us that our children are safe inside the school premises," he said.
"We also asked them to install more CCTV cameras to avoid such situations in the future and to suspend the students who have been attacking their juniors. The school principal has agreed to install more CCTV cameras and assured that more guards will be deployed inside the school premises. We were also assured that students' bags will be checked thoroughly before their classes," he added.
Another parent of a Class VI student, Shamim Ansari, also alleged that his daughter told him that her classmates have had similar experiences over the past month. "My daughter told me that some of her classmates were attacked with blades and that pills were mixed in their water bottles by some senior students. We visited the principal's office on Monday to talk about these issues but she refused to accept that anything like this has happened," he said.
According to police officials, calls and emails regarding these issues to the school authorities were met with no response. However, the issue has now been resolved between the parents and the school management, in person, and no complaints have been registered with them. "The parents left after they got a written assurance from the principal," a senior police official said.
Meanwhile, Aparajita Gautam, president of the Delhi Parents' Association, stated that the school must take action. "It is the duty of the school to ensure the safety of students and take action to check these incidents. Action must be taken against those responsible," she said, as per PTI.
