After an uproar over the alleged sexual assault on a four-year-old girl, the Telangana government has decided to cancel the permission of the BSD DAV Public School in Banjara Hills where the reported incident occurred.
Education Minister, P. Sabitha Indra Reddy ordered the District Educational Officer (DEO) of Hyderabad to revoke the permission given to the school and accommodate the students in other schools of their choice in the jurisdiction.
The Minister also constituted a committee headed by the Secretary, Education, and consisting of officials from the Education Department, Women and Child Welfare Ministry, and a Deputy Inspector General rank police officer working in the women safety wing of the Telangana police. The G.O. with the terms of reference would be issued on Saturday. The committee would be asked to submit its report within a week suggesting measures to be implemented mandatorily to prevent such heinous crimes and ensure the safety of girl students. The government would formulate some guidelines based on the report.
The Minister entrusted the DEO Hyderabad with the responsibility of accommodating the students in other schools so that their academics were not disturbed. Officials said about 500 students in the DAV School in Banjara Hills would be shifted to the nearby schools taking the parents into confidence. The parents of each student would be requested to identify their choice of school in their vicinity so that officials could make the transfer arrangements.
The four-year-old girl was allegedly sexually assaulted by the driver of the school principal, who is now under police custody. The driver Rajani Kumar apparently had unlimited access to the classrooms for reasons unknown. The girl was sexually abused repeatedly over two months, according to the parents, who lodged the complaint with the police.
Parents have blamed the school principal for creating such an insecure atmosphere for the little girls, and also deliberately ignoring the signals of such abuse.
