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Jaipur girl approached teacher 5 times for help ‘in last 45 minutes’ before jumping to death: CBSE probe panel
The child had allegedly pleaded to the teacher for help regarding some remarks written on a digital slate by classmates.
Weeks after a Class 4 student died after jumping from the fourth floor of a private school in Rajasthan's Jaipur, the two-member committee formed by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to probe the incident has submitted its report.
Among other revelations, the committee found that the nine-year-old girl had approached her class teacher five times in the last 45 minutes before her death. The child had allegedly pleaded to the teacher for help regarding some remarks written on a digital slate by classmates, according to an earlier HT report.
The CCTV footage of the incident shows that the teacher, instead of taking “corrective action”, shouted in class, leaving the child seeming to be “puzzled”, “embarrassed”, and “extremely disappeared.”
However, the committee found that the child was still not referred to the school counsellor, despite several distress signals, in violation of CBSE's mandatory requirements under anti-bullying protocols and Pocso-linked reporting obligations.
The committee has issued a show-cause notice to the school, while also submitting that the “spot of fall was washed” before forensic examination could take place.
Safety lapses, breach of protocols, bullying complaints ignored
Other findings of the two-member committee include safety lapses regarding CCTV monitoring and security, breach of protocols, as well as a negligence to the complaints made by the student and her parents.
According to CBSE, the committee found “gross violations” f Affiliation Bye-Laws and “severe lapses” in child safety, bullying prevention and school infrastructure. It also stated that the school had failed to maintain a “healthy atmosphere.”
The panel also reported safety breaches in that students were not wearing ID cards, and also noted the lack of a safety and security committee and inadequate CCTV monitoring.
It stated a breach of national guidelines issued by the Supreme Court, National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and the National Building Code. This included unsafe infrastructure, the absence of safety nets on higher floors, missing floor attendants, and non-compliance of child-protection protocols.
The committee, during a follow-up visit to the child's family, also found that parental complaints of bullying over nearly 18 months had been neglected by the school.
