NCPCR for suspension of Principal,school refuses

Supriya Dhar,the secretary of the school,however said the school is not bound to follow the NCPCR recommendations.

On Wednesday afternoon,another team from the HRD Ministry headed by Ramesh Bhattacharya reached the school to probe the matter.

The three-member probe committee headed by Delhi High Court advocate Ashok Agarwal,child right activist Ratnaboli Roy,and the registrar of NCPCR,D K Sahu,submitted the 23-page report to the NCPCR on June 22.

The NCPCR team has found a link between the corporal punishment and humiliation inflicted by the school authorities on Rouvanjit and his suicide.

But more significantly,the report also hinted at problems in the boy’s home front too.

“The death of Rouvanjit could have certainly been avoided if there was no corporal punishment and humiliation and his father Ajay Rawla spared some time for the child on February 12,” said a committee member quoting the probe report. “After being humiliated at the school,Rouvanjit reached home at noon and around 1.30 pm,he had called his father who was busy and the child could not speak to him after which he committed suicide at 2.30 pm,” the member said. The copies of the report have been sent to various regulatory authorities including the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development,the state School Education Department,the state chief secretary and the La Martiniere School.

Besides school-specific recommendations,the team has made larger recommendations to prevent corporal punishment in schools across the country,highlighting the gaps Section 17 of the RTE Act and recommending legislation to address all problems relating to corporal punishment.

“We expect the police to minutely investigate the case and come up with its findings as quickly as possible,” said Ratnaboli Ray. The Detective Department of the Kolkata Police has also sought a copy of the NCPCR probe report,she said.

The key recommendations
* Principal Sunirmal Chakraborty and L G Gunion to be suspended till police investigations are over to minimise their influence on students
* Warning to the Principal by the school’s Board of Governors is highly disproportionate in terms of impact of his actions
* The school rules say if a child fails to accept discipline or keep up with academic standards,the authorities can ask the child to leave. The committee has asked the school to drop this section
* Gaps found in Section 17 of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsary Education Act,2009,which says that no child will be subject to any mental and physical torture and whoever contravenes the same will be liable to disciplinary action under service rules
* The state government should make an environment free of corporal punishment a precondition to no-objection certificates to schools