Telangana DSE asked to shut down pre-primary division of Tolichowki School

Hyderabad: Two weeks have passed since an innocent school girl has been sexually exploited by a school supervisor at a Tolichowki-based international school, the Telangana department of school education (DSE) has asked the school to closed down its pre-primary division.

The district education officer (DEO) has instructed the deputy education officer (DEO) and deputy inspector of schools, Golconda Mandal, to conduct meetings with the parents and accommodate their children in the nearby schools. Altogether a number of 218 students are said to be studying in the pre-primary section.

B Venkata Narasamma, DEO, Hyderabad said the management violated rules in force and did not provide safety to the pre-primary class children. "They have been running the pre-primary school on the third floor, instead of the ground floor. Moreover, the management had been running pre-primary classes without obtaining recognition. In our enquiry, it was revealed that the Tolichowki-based school has failed to fulfil the conditions laid down by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR). As the competent authority, I hereby issue orders to close the said school with immediate effect," read the closure order issued by DEO.

Speaking to a source, Narasamma added,"We have already identified about five schools in the nearby locality and parents will be given an option to select a school of their choice in the meeting, which will be conducted on Wednesday. We will also make sure the school management will reimburse the fee to all parents."

The school, which was supposed to file a counter in regard to the case that was filed against them in court, failed to file one and has requested the court to grant it 10 days' time to file their version. The court directed the petitioner to approach the education department and submit a representation, asking them to provide security to the students studying in the said school.