Mumbai: 'School asked our 4-yr-old autistic child to leave'

Parents of a four-year-old autistic child complained that a south Mumbai school ousted him for being a slow learner and asked them to shift him to a special school.

Parents of a four-year-old autistic child complained that a south Mumbai school ousted him for being a slow learner and asked them to shift him to a special school.

The event unravelled at the school on Thursday when the parents alleged that the school did not allow him to enter the premises and he was kept waiting outside for hours. Later, the school authorities met the parents and offered to take back the child if they hired a shadow teacher for him. But the parents refused this proposal.

The boy who was admitted to the school in junior kindergarten last year has autism spectrum disorder. His parents alleged that the school had asked him to repeat the class again because of his condition and were asking them to shift to a special school.

On Thursday, school authorities denied him entry, without any prior notice, alleged parents. “We had to drop him to the school as the bus did not pick him up,” said the boy’s father. “At the school the security guard refused to let us in and a teacher told us that he must join a special school so I left him at the school gate and returned.”

He added that they had already submitted a certificate from Nair Hospital which stated that the child can continue in a regular school.

On the other hand, school authorities said the father had put the child at risk by leaving him outside the school. “Our teachers tried to explain the matter politely to the parent but he behaved aggressively with them,” said an official from the school management. “He left his child standing outside the school so finally we took him in.

The official said that school had taken many steps to help the child. “Since the past one-and-a-half years, we have taken many steps to ensure that the child does well. We even allowed the mother to sit in class for a few days but now other parents are worried about the safety of their children as the child sometimes displays violent behaviour,” she said.