Parents of the deaf and hard of hearing studying at Usha Jamnerkar Mukh Dhwani Vidyalay in Vile Parle (E) are up in arms after the school authorities forced them to sign an undertaking over the supply of meal to their children. The undertaking, which has allegedly been made mandatory for all parents, states that the school or the organisation will not be held responsible in case something untoward happens to the children after they consume the meal.
Activist and Aam Aadmi Party member Adil Khatri claimed that parents of the deaf and hard of hearing children studying in the school have approached him to resolve the stand-off.
The Utkarsh Mandal Trust runs the school.
According to Khatri, the parents were summoned to the school on Saturday and asked to sign the undertaking. When some parents requested that they be allowed to take the printed letter home for consultations, the school flatly denied them permission.
A parent said, "The school used to provide a vegetable dish to our children and we used to pack rotis in our children's tiffin. But the school has now decided to provide meals to children by tying up with a private organisation. The authorities have requested us not to send tiffin from this year. BMC runs a similar scheme in its schools. After informing us about the scheme, the school authorities asked us to sign the printed letter that they handed out on Saturday. We opposed but they threatened that the students will be removed from the school if we did not comply. The parents who could not make it on Saturday were summoned on Tuesday and forced to sign the letter. They read out the contents of the letter to us, which states that the school or organization providing the meal will not be responsible if anything untoward happens to the children."
Khatri, the AAP member, said, "We met the vice-principal of the school on Tuesday and asked her whether they forcedparents to sign the undertaking. The vice-principal accepted that the parents were made to sign the undertaking. We are now going to take this matter to the education minister. The school cannot take such an undertaking from parents."
When dna tried contacting the school for its comments, the vice-principal was not available for her reaction. The staff refused to share the contact number of any other person authorized to speak to the media.
It's not clear whether the school comes under the BMC or social welfare department.
R D Shinde secretary of social welfare department, said, "In Rs900 from breakfast till dinner is provided to children, who are studying in schools that comes under our department. I have not received any complaints regarding this school. I don't know which school is this, but it is not correct to take an undertaking from parents for providing meal to children."
The education officer of BMC Shambhavi Jogi was unavailable for comments.
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