Online chat with principal lands student in trouble

For Deep Satra, 13, even the thought of logging in to Facebook gives him the shivers.

For Deep Satra, 13, even the thought of logging in to Facebook gives him the shivers.

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Satra, a Class 8 student of Vile Parle’s MP Shah English High School, was handed his school leaving certificate last week after an online chat with his school principal, Vandana Tandon, took a bizarre turn.

On February 12, Deep was playing ‘city-ville’ on Facebook, when his friend, Aniket Jain, 15, came over to his house and started accessing his account. “Aniket grabbed the mouse from my hand and began chatting with my principal in spite of my objections,” said Satra, who fractured his right hand in January. “Aniket started abusing the principal,” said Ramesh Satra, Deep’s father, alleging that the principal replied in an equally foul manner. “After 15 minutes, when the conversation took an ugly turn, my son got afraid and immediately logged out,” added Satra.

When Deep went to school on February 14, his principal handed him his school-leaving certificate. “Such a severe action is ridiculous when my son was not even directly involved,” claimed Satra, who along with his wife, was called to the school to take their son back home. After an hour-long conversation, the principal allegedly “suspended” the boy for a month and did not give any written declaration for the same.

On Tuesday, Deep’s parents approached the principal, who agreed to let him write the final exams without attending classes. “My son already missed a week after his fracture, and this suspension will keep him lagging behind in class,” said Satra.

School authorities were unavailable for comment.