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Five days and counting, students protest Ratlam school principal’s suspension
The students are demanding revocation of the principal’s suspension.
Students of a government high school at Malwasa in Ratlam district of Madhya Pradesh boycotted their classes for the fifth day on Tuesday to protest against suspension of the school principal, a week ago, for distributing notebooks having pictures of RSS idealogue Veer Sarvarkar, officials said.
The students are demanding revocation of the suspension.
RN Kerawat, the principal who was given President’s award the school achieved 100 per cent result for five years in a row, was suspended by district education officer, Ratlam KC Sharma, for distribution of notebooks with photograph and life-sketch of Savarkar among students by an NGO without any permission from the department.
On Tuesday, the students, including girls, did not attend their classes and staged a sit-in on the school campus. Despite the district education officer’s and sub-divisional magistrate (SDM)’s persuasion they did not budge. Earlier, on Monday, the students of class 9 and 11 boycotted their pre-board examinations. The students are protesting since Friday, when the suspension order reached the school.
One of students, Sunil Kumar, said, “If the suspension order of our principal is not revoked we will intensify our agitation and stage a road blockade nearby. We will observe indefinite fast till our demands are met.”
A girl student, Mahima Prajapat, said, “The girl students will not stay entire night but the boys will stay in the school to protest despite the chilly winds. We want suspension order of our principal to be revoked. We are not worried about our results this year. We want justice.”
District education officer, KC Sharma, said, “We are trying to pursuade the students to focus on their studies and attend the classes.”
The notebooks among students were distributed by an NGO Veer Savarkar Hitarth Jan Kalyan Samiti on November 4. The suspension order was issued by the district education officer at the instructions of Ujjain division commissioner, Ajeet Kumar, according to education department officials.
Earlier, the district education officer KC Sharma had said, “Principal RN Kerawat was suspended as per instructions from the commissioner, Ujjain division as he had not sought any permission from the department to distribute the notebooks among students. A show cause notice had been issued to him and he had admitted in his reply that he had distributed the notebooks.”
(With input from Sudhir Jain in Ratlam)
