A sports academy in Arunachal Pradesh has rusticated seven students for stealing two packets of noodles from the hostel’s canteen, the mother of one of the students has alleged.
The authorities of Sangay Lhaden Sports Academy (SLSA), situated at Chimpu on the outskirts of State capital Itanagar, said the students were “habitual offenders” while citing different reasons for their expulsion.
“The school authorities claimed to have video evidence of my son and the others stealing two packets of Maggi noodles but failed to show the CCTV footage,” the mother of one of the rusticated students told newspersons in Itanagar on Tuesday.
She also said the SLSA authorities were not clear about when the theft happened besides not responding to the Itanagar Child Welfare Committee’s direction to submit a detailed report on the matter.
The mother said the academy did not get in touch with the parents of the seven students before taking extreme the action against them. “I came to know of the development in April when I went to collect my son’s Class 7 progress report,” she added.
SLSA defends move
The SLSA defended the expulsion, saying the rusticated students had been “found smoking, indulging in unruly activities and stealing a mobile phone of a Class 10 student”. Academy’s headmaster Komen Zirdo said the rustication issue was handled by the Sports Directorate before he joined the SLSA in February.
The Sports and Education departments share the responsibility of the academy.
The office of the Deputy Director of School Education in Itanagar outlined the reasons for expelling the students in a letter to the State Director of Elementary Education on August 28.
The academy authorities tried their best to reform the students and make them “leave the bad habits like smoking” but in vain, the letter said, also denying the allegations that the parents were not informed about the action to be taken against the students.
But the mother said her son had been wrongly implicated in the “noodle theft” and the academy authorities had fabricated the other charges after their decision was challenged publicly.
She also said the expulsion had traumatised her son and the six others. “Doctors have said he is suffering from depression and has developed suicidal tendencies,” she added.
