School test allegations true, action urged

Tests to measure sexual development were conducted on students in Sardar Patel Vidalaya without informing the school, NCPCR has found, reports Chetan Chauhan.

Updated on: Aug 2, 2007, 01:38:10 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

Prefer HTon Google

Share via

Copy link

Tests to measure sexual development were conducted on students in Sardar Patel Vidalaya without informing the school, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights has found. It recommended strict action against the doctors involved and a public apology from the school.

The school had initially denied that Sex Maturity Ratings (SMR) was conducted. But before the committee set up by the child-rights body, principal Vidya Subramaniam said Dr KN Aggarwal, whose team was conducting the tests, had informed them only about "simple medical examination" and detection of growth failure.

"Going by what he told us we did not think it warranted parental consent," she told the committee. Had the school been told clearly about the tests, a prior notice would have been given to parents, she said.

The committee also observed the school was given a wrong impression about the aim of the project and held Dr Aggawal guilty of deliberately misleading the school and not informing it about the "clinical study". The sponsors, under the false pretext, obtained confidential information, including information on sexual maturity, the committee said in a report submitted to the commission’s chairperson Shantha Sinha on Wednesday. The committee has recommended action by the Medical Council of India against Dr Aggarwal and others.

It also said the data collected should not be used for any commercial purpose without the written consent of the guardians. Sandhaya Bajaj, member of the committee, said they have asked the HRD Ministry and the Health Ministry to frame guidelines for medical check-ups in schools. The guidelines should include mandatory general check-up for all students after the parents’ consent and genital check-up should be done in the presence of parents. Students had told the committee that they were stripped and their private parts checked.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

Catch every big hit, every wicket with Crickit, a one stop destination for Live Scores, Match Stats, Infographics & much more. Explore now!

Stay updated with all top Cities including, Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai and more across India. Stay informed on the latest happenings in World News along with Delhi Election 2025 and Delhi Election Result 2025 Live, New Delhi Election Result Live, Kalkaji Election Result Live at Hindustan Times.