Staff hired from security agency

This came to light after members of Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (KSCPCR), including Chairperson Nina Nayak, visited the hospital and the residential school premises, and spoke with the students and the teachers. Member of the Commission Niranjanaradhya said the Department of Social Welfare had called for tenders to appoint teachers and staff for the school and at present, seven members at the school including four teachers, the assistant cook and the staff nurse have been provided by Harshita Security Agency, who were awarded the contract.

The principal, three teachers including the science teacher who also doubled as a warden, along with six other non-teaching staff are working on a contract basis with the Social Welfare Department. The teachers from the security agency are paid Rs 6,000 every month, out of which Rs 1,100 is being deducted by the agency as service charges.

The Commission took serious note of the systemic deficiencies that were highlighted in the functioning of the school itself. No attendance register was ever maintained for the teachers and their attendance was monitored by the security agency calling the principal daily and checking with him.

Despite specific rules stating that teachers should stay on the campus, none of the teachers, except the science teacher who is also the warden, stayed on the school campus as there were no facilities to stay. The staff nurse was the only person staying with the girls in the co-educational school and this she managed to do, by converting a section of the office area into sleeping quarters. As of now, the science teacher Savitha has been asked to go on leave. The Commission has asked for a report from the Department of Social Welfare about their hiring process and why the matter was not entrusted to the Department of Education. The Commission has asked the department to set the system right within three months.