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‘Study’ on school kids by IIT-M team triggers row, principal shunted
The institute said in a statement issued that “neither clinical trials nor any medical-related device trials were conducted”, it said that the faculty has been “warned, and administrative action was taken”
The Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, said on Thursday it has transferred the principal of a school on its campus after reports of the faculty conducting a “feasibility test” on students triggered a row.
While the institute, in a statement issued on Thursday, said that “neither clinical trials nor any medical-related device trials were conducted”, it said that the faculty has been “warned, and administrative action was taken”.
“Neither medicine nor stimulants were given… According to the faculty, this was just a feasibility test and not a clinical trial, and hence it may not require permission from the parents. It was found that no invasive procedures were performed, and no liquid or solids were administered to any of the students before or during the study,” the statement said, adding that the study only lasted 10 minutes for each student.
Furthermore, it said that an assembled smart insole was placed “inside the insole of students’ shoes to study the ease of walking (the study lasted for less than 10 minutes for each student), which had no contact with the human body.”
Along with the assembled insole, a commercially assembled smartwatch was used to collect the data separately.
However, parents of some of the students who were part of the study have filed a complaint with the state human rights commission against the school for violating the New Drugs and Clinical Trials Rules, 2019, and the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940.
The district education officer (DEO) has, meanwhile, summoned the parents and the school management for an inquiry on Friday.
Parents complained that data was collected from the students without their consent, said an official, requesting anonymity. “The parents are angry that no consent was taken from them. They said it seemed like an endurance and fitness test because students were made to run and jump,” the official said.
Established in 1963, Vana Vani Matriculation Higher Secondary School (VVMHSC) on the sprawling IIT-M campus, is run by a not-for profit trust, in which Director-IIT-M is the managing trustee, according to the VVMHSC website.
