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Gurgaon: Parents fume as suspended Ryan school principal joins another branch
The suspended officiating principal of Ryan International School in Bhondsi, where an eight-year-old student was murdered in a toilet, has joined the chain’s sector
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The suspended officiating principal of Ryan International School in Bhondsi, where an eight-year-old student was murdered in a toilet, has joined the chain’s sector 40 branch in Gurgaon as a teacher after administrative clearance, causing concern among parents.
Parents of students at Ryan International School in sector 40 said it was unacceptable for the institution to deploy Neerja Batra who was suspended due to her negligence in the school where the eight-year-old was brutally murdered on September 8. They said students had seen videos wherein Batra was seen talking to the media, because of which her presence in the school could impact the children psychologically.
“She was the principal of the institution in which the gruesome murder of an innocent child took place. She was suspended for negligence in delivering her duties and now the management cannot assign her a new task in another branch. How can they reinstate an employee who is found guilty of not doing her job responsibly?” said Ramneek Vashishtha, a parent.
Batra was officiating as the school principal in Bhondsi and was in charge of the school since April after Rakhi Verma, the then principal, resigned. Batra has been working with the Ryan group for 20 years and was deployed at the sector 40 branch earlier too.
Parents said until the real culprit was convicted, the needle of suspicion could turn towards every head who was present in the school on the day the crime took place.
“Until and unless she is declared not guilty, she should remain suspended,” said Nirmala Arora, a parent.
Despite repeated attempts, Batra could not be reached for comments.
A group of parents met the school principal and said she had assured them that Batra would not be teaching students but she could still be seen taking classes at the school.
On the other hand, the district administration cleared Batra and asked her to join the sector 40 branch.
Vinay Pratap Singh, deputy commissioner, Gurgaon, said, “I had ordered to send her to the sector 40 branch of Ryan International School as she was not responsible for the incident. She had done her bit by informing the school management of the safety and security lapses through emails and she had no financial power. If she had not sent the emails, she would also have been arrested by the police for her negligence. Her deployment was originally at the sector 40 branch and I have sent her back as keeping her at Bhondsi could have been an issue.”
“If parents have issues they should speak to the school management. Now, it is the school management’s prerogative to retain her in the branch or post her to another. Now it’s up to the sector 40 school management how to utilise her services,” said Singh who is the administrator of the school for three months by a government order.
