slug
SUSPENSION OF PE TEACHER ISSUE
CURCHOREM
Accusing the school management of taking unilateral decisions, parents have decided not to send their children to school on Monday and Tuesday, while also boycotting the annual school concert, until the school PTA and parents are taken into confidence by school management.
This was decided at a meeting of parents in Rivona on Saturday, after parents address events leading to the suspension of a PE teacher, who has been accused of molesting a schoolgirl, and to express their solidarity with him.
The School PTA meeting, which was to be held in the school hall, was later shifted to the Ganpati hall near Rivona Panchayat and it turned out to be a public meeting, due to the absence of teachers from the PTA committee.
PTA President and local Panch Vaishali Naik told locals and parents present at the meeting that the school management had denied permission to the PTA to convene a public meeting in the school hall.
She also informed the gathering that the school had forbidden school teachers from attending the PTA meeting and hence, the PTA meeting turned into a public meeting.
In her opening remarks, Naik updated the gathering on the incident involving the PE teacher and said that the suspended teacher had been in the forefront of many school events.
Manoj Naik, a local and president of local Ganapati Mandal, opined that there were differences between the school management and PTA members in the matter. He made it clear that the issue should not be politicised by people with vested interests.
He advised the PTA to report to the ADEI that the school management did not allow the PTA meeting in the school hall.
One local present at the meeting revealed that the victim's father told him that he had been pushed to launch a complaint and that the father was willing to withdraw the complaint.
The local added that the school management along with some PTA members had visited victim's house to ascertain the authenticity of the incident. They claimed that if the incident had been true, the victim's parents would have immediately notified the school management and PTA, which had not been the case.
Later, parents decided to protest against the school management by not sending their children to classes on Monday and Tuesday, while also boycott the high school's annual concert scheduled for Tuesday, until the school management takes the PTA and parents into confidence on this issue.
..............
Locals, parents vent ire over being forced to sign declaration
CURCHOREM: The suspension of a Rivona school PE teacher, accused of molesting a schoolgirl, has taken a further twist, with locals of Rivona and parents of schoolchildren expressing outrage after being forced to sign a declaration in the matter.
Speaking to The Goan, the parents said that they were being made to submit a declaration in the format, prescribed by the school, expressing their support to the teacher.
Besides being forced to submit the “declaration” in an affidavit on a Rs 50 stamp paper, parents are furious as they are being made to stand as a “legally bound guarantor for any misdeeds committed by the PE teacher in the near future.”
A copy of the “declaration” reads as follows: “I Shree___H No.___Ward___Village___in the capacity as parent of my child Kumar/Kumari___studying in Std___hereby state that the complaint led against High School Teacher Mr____is false.
I know Mr_____ for the last___years and here by state that I personally stand responsible as a legally bound guarantor for any misdeeds committed by said Mr____in the near future.”
The parents were unhappy to sign this declaration, as the school would then hold them responsible for any misconduct by the suspended teacher in future.
When contacted, PTA President and local Panch Vaishali Naik confirmed that the school management had drafted the “declaration” and had handed it over the parents.
