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Hyderabad school derecognised after 4-year-old’s rape
All the existing students would be shifted to another school so they would not suffer any setback in the ongoing academic year
The Telangana government on Friday ordered Hyderabad district’s education department officials to cancel the recognition of the school in the city where a four-year-old student was allegedly sexually assaulted by a driver, the state’s education minister said.
After meeting district education authorities over the incident which has sparked widespread outrage, school education minister Sabitha Indra Reddy said in a statement that instructions were issued to cancel the recognition given to the school.
She added that all the existing students would be shifted to another school so they would not suffer any setback in the ongoing academic year.
“It is the responsibility of the district education officer (DEO) to clear any doubts and allay apprehensions, if any, of the parents of the students in this regard,” her statement added.
On Wednesday, the Hyderabad police had arrested the 34-year-old driver on charges of sexually assaulting the survivor. A case was booked against him under Section 376 (2) (f) (sexually assaulting a minor girl below 12 years) and also under relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) Act.
Hours later, the police also arrested the school’s principal on charges of negligence for not taking any action in the matter despite a complaint by the victims’ parents on Monday.
Both were produced before a local court which remanded them to 14-day judicial custody.
Minister Reddy’s statement on Friday further said that she constituted four-member committee headed by the school education department secretary for looking into safety and security aspects in schools across the state.
The committee, also comprising a senior woman police officer of deputy IG rank, has been asked to submit a report with recommendations in a week, the statement added.
“Based on the recommendations of the committee, appropriate measures would be taken to ensure safety and security of students. The department would get an undertaking from the managements of the private schools to see that such incident would not happen in the schools,” minister Reddy’s statement added.
