Three staff members, including the principal of a Morarji Desai School in Yaluvalli in Malur, Kolar district, were suspended by the Karnataka Residential Educational Institutions Society (KREIS) on Sunday for making students manually clean the sanitary chambers as well as the school premises. The Kolar district police have filed a case under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, and arrested the principal and a teacher of the school.
In photographs that went viral, students were seen inside the manholes. The videos which are being circulated on the Internet also showed students saying that the teachers made them get inside manholes to clean them.
Following these visuals going viral, the Joint Director of the Social Welfare Department lodged a complaint based on which Kolar Police filed an FIR and arrested principal Bharathamma along with a teacher allegedly involved in the incident.
Taking to social media, Social Welfare Minister H.C. Mahadevappa said, “The principal and warden have been suspended. Henceforth, caution will be taken to ensure that such incidents do not take place.”
“Apart from filing the FIR under various acts, we have also formed a committee to internally investigate the matter. The three suspended members must go through the enquiry and face disciplinary action,” Naveen Kumar Raju, Executive Director, KREIS, told The Hindu.
Following the fiasco, KREIS, under which Morarji Desai schools operate, conducted a preliminary inquiry when several other allegations of ill-treatment of students at the particular school have emerged.
Private video taken
On Sunday, it also came to light that a private video of a girl child was also taken by one of the staff members. Mr. Raju, who visited the school, said that he had seen the video in question and that a complaint will be lodged. “We need to probe who took that video; are there any other instances of such videos being taken; and whether it is part of a larger racket. This will be part of the probe,” he said.
Bad food provided
Several parents and students at the school have also alleged that bad quality food was provided to the students. Speaking to the media, a girl student said that when they developed stomach ache after eating rotten eggs, the staff refused to get them medical aid, alleging the students were “acting”.
School demanding money
A few parents also alleged that the staff members of the school were demanding money from parents for the construction of a temple.
