JOIN USChezhiyan P on Tuesday said principal Lydia Joshua, despite being provided with evidence of a fabricated transfer certificate of a student, was trying to cover up the whole issue.
The case relates to a transfer certificate submitted by a student admitted to Class 9 in the school. Chezhiyan says the school mentioned in the TC — New Megha School at Ramamurthy Nagar — does not exist.
As proof, he cites a reply he received from the Block Educational Officer under the Right to Information Act which states that no such school existed in the area and there were no record of it having registered with them.
He also points that the TC, which is countersigned by the Block Educational Officer, does not match the signature of the same officer in the RTI application. Moreover, the student in question was enrolled at Bishop Cotton’s and asked to take a TC in 2006 after failing in Class 7.
The parents refused to take the TC, as they had opposed the move in the High Court.
Chezhiyan questions how the student, who had not collected her TC as late as May 2010, could have been admitted to another school in the period between 2006 and 2010.
When Deccan Herald contacted Lydia Joshua, she said when the matter was brought to her notice, she summoned the student’s parents and sought an explanation from them. She then contacted Rev Reuben Paul of Calvin Baptist Church, who she was told, ran the school.
‘Lack of students’
“He explained to me that the school had been closed recently due to lack of students. I then asked him to provide me with some proof of the school’s existence along with photographs of the school when it was running,” she said. Joshua added that she was yet to receive these documents. On the earlier transfer of the student, she said it took place before she joined five months ago.
Reverend Paul told this newspaper that his school had not registered with the education department. “I have not registered as I wanted to build sufficient strength first,” he said.
“However, I had to shut down the school a few months ago, because the student strength was only 15,” he added.
On being questioned how the student was provided with a TC from the Block Education Officer despite the school not being registered, he said: “There is a provision in the rules for that.”