New Delhi, July 11: The Delhi government Wednesday sought a report on the detention of over half a dozen children for nearly five hours in a school in Old Delhi over non-payment of tuition fees in time.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia, who holds the Education portfolio, directed the Education Secretary to submit report on the issue. An Education Department senior official will visit the Rabiya School in Chandni Chowk area on Thursday to inquire.
“I am shocked. I asked officers to take strict action when I heard about it yesterday (Tuesday),” Sisodia said in a tweet on Wednesday. Kejriwal also tweeted that he will visit the school along with Sisodia at 10 a.m. on Thursday and “meet the kids, their parents and school authorities”.
Their reaction came after reports that the school authorities allegedly locked children aged between 4 and 5 on the school premises on Monday after their parents failed to pay the tuition fees. The school management, including Headmistress Farha Diba Khan, were named in the First Information Report filed under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000.
The management was booked on the complaint of Shabeen Hasan who had dropped his two daughters at the school around 7.30 a.m. on Monday. He said when he returned to pick them after school hours, he found them not present in their respective classes.
“When I enquired from the staff, I got to know that some minor children had been forcibly locked in the school basement during school hours without food. The children were let off only after we informed police,” he said in the FIR. Hasan said that the aggrieved parents had earlier promised to the management that they would clear the fee dues in a couple of days.
