The Shahapur school in Thane, which was shut since last Wednesday (July 9), following an outrage over alleged inappropriate behaviour with girl students, reopened on Tuesday. After being in the midst of a row, the school reopened with new policies and changes in the parent-teacher body.
The outrage occurred last week as, according to the parents, the school authorities had asked girl students to strip to check if they were menstruating after finding blood stains in the school washroom. Subsequently, parents’ protests broke out, and the school was shut for a week.
On Monday, the police, school authorities, education officers, teachers, and parents conducted a joint meeting to decide the future course of action. In the meeting, the parents of the students submitted an 11-point plan of action to the school authorities and decided to only move forward once it was implemented.
The plan demanded the institution of committees like POCSO, a Sakhi Savitri body, and a Parent Teacher Association. As a priority, the parents asked that the accreditation of the school should not be cancelled and the school should resume by Tuesday.
“Nearly 150 parents were present at the meeting and we asked for the school to resume with proper policies at the earliest. This is one of the only two CBSE schools in Shahapur, and we don’t want our children to suffer academically as well,” said Nilesh Manje, a parent whose daughter attends Grade 10 of the school.
The school functioned as usual on Tuesday, where plans to start the POCSO and a parent-teacher body are already set in motion, said a teacher who has been nominated as the interim vice principal of the school. “We urged the students to move past this incident and begin anew. Almost all students were present on day 1 of reopening,” said the teacher.
She also informed mid-day that the scheduled exams have been pushed ahead to the first week of August so the students have enough time to cope academically. Soon after the parents meeting on Monday, education officers also conducted a session with the teachers of the school to ensure they are mindful about all the right practices.
“We visited the school on Tuesday morning too, to make sure that everything is functioning as it should. The school is also in a process to set up complaint boxes, which students can access anytime they want,” said Ramachandra Vishe, block education officer. As per Shahpur police, five school staff members, including the principal, teachers, and a cleaning staffer, have been arrested. An FIR was filed by the parents last week against them.
