Two days after a private school in Haibowal area was found to be holding classes in violation of the state government’s directions, the principal of the school was arrested on Wednesday night.
The accused, Navyug Public Senior Secondary School principal Meenakshi Sharma, was granted bail on Thursday.
Punjab Agricultural University station house officer (SHO) sub-inspector Paramveer Singh said, “We had arrested the principal for violating the state government’s orders by opening schools during lockdown.”
“A case had been registered against Sharma under Section 188 (disobeying public servant’s order) of the Indian Penal Code and sections of the Disaster Management Act,” he said.
VIDEO CIRCULATED ON SOCIAL MEDIA
A video showing students doing class work was circulated on social media on Tuesday. The teachers could be heard giving instructions to students in the video and the students were seen sitting close to each other flouting social distancing norms.
Sharma has denied the allegations: “We had called the staff for checking notebooks and planning homework to be assigned during summer vacations,” she said.
“No student was asked to come but some parents who had come to deposit textbooks brought their kids along. As most students’ parents are uneducated, the teachers decided to instruct the students on how to complete their homework,” she said.
{{/usCountry}}“No student was asked to come but some parents who had come to deposit textbooks brought their kids along. As most students’ parents are uneducated, the teachers decided to instruct the students on how to complete their homework,” she said.
{{/usCountry}}SHOW-CAUSE NOTICE
The district education officer, secondary, Swaranjit Kaur had issued a show-cause notice to the school on Wednesday asking the principal to give her reason to open the school the state government’s order.
The department has written to the Punjab school education board to take action against the school.