Parents of deaf and mute students of Sanskarsdham Vidyalaya, a special school, have raised their voice against highhandedness of headmistress Lata Naik.
Parents of 75 deaf and mute students of Sanskarsdham Vidyalaya, a special school in Goregaon, have raised their voice against the highhandedness of headmistress Lata Naik.
Alleging harassment of various kinds and misuse of school funds, Shaina Mulani, Saghamitra Roy and other parents moved Bombay High Court against the state government, the school and its headmistress.
Chief Justice Swatanter Kumar and Justice DY Chandrachud on Wednesday directed the disability commissioner to visit the school on a working day and submit a report to the court in two weeks.
“Donations made to the school are siphoned off. Even gifts received by the children are taken away by the headmistress,” said BK Roy whose son Abhishek, 10, was demoted from Standard III to a special class equivalent to senior KG after he protested. “We are at the mercy of the school. If my child is thrown out, it will not be easy to admit him in another school,” added Roy.
Arguing on behalf of the parents, advocate Uday Warunjikar told the court that the school had received a sanction on grant-in-aid basis in 2004, but still collected an amount of Rs3.5 lakh from the students. In 2005-06, a scholarship scheme was introduced, and although the school received the money, it was not disbursed among the students.
“We were even asked to return the chocolates that our children had received at a programme”, said Rabia Khatun whose deaf and mute daughter Sarvari, 10, looked oblivious about the seriousness of their court visit. “I don’t even know which class my daughter studies in. The school does not allow us inside the premises. We are scared to protest because our children would have to pay the price for it”, she added.
Amit Dubey whose parents protested against Naik, was demoted to Std V from Std X. “Our children take longer than normal kids to graduate from one class to another. Demotion harms them mentally”, said Roy.
The petition also alleged that the audiometrist and the speech therapist in the school were asked by Naik not to attend to children of parents who complained against her. Moreover, the school took no action despite four notices issued to them by the government. The official intake of students was only 40, whereas there were 75 children studying, the petition added.
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