Principal's arrest jolts teaching community

The arrest of the principal of The Indiranagar Cambridge School for failing to implement the safety guidelines mandated by the police has made the teaching community nervous.

Vyjayanthi was arrested along with the managing trustee of the school on Saturday and both were booked under Sections 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) and 336 (act of endangering life or personal safety of others) of the Indian Penal Code.

 H V Ramesh, principal, BHS School, Basaveshwarnagar, said that with the incidents of sexual abuse at schools coming to light, all institutions need to be extra careful and cautious. “Fear has been created in the minds of teachers and principals because of the actions of a few. Morever, cheap reporting by a few media organisations wanting to sensationalise everything has done a lot of harm. It will definitely kill the morale of teachers in general,” he said.

Implementation of safety guidelines in schools need the approval of the management which provides the finances. However, in the case of Cambridge School, the principal was held accountable. What’s more, her face was flashed in all the dailies and TV channels as if she was directly responsible for the incident, some teachers said.

“It is indeed very humiliating for principal. One cannot expect the principal to be there all the time. These lapses take place in society and not only in a school setting. Fear psychosis among the school staff will not help the situation,” said the principal of a leading city school in Jayanagar on the condition of anonymity.

Renu Verghese, academic co-ordinator, Shishu Griha, Thippasandara, felt that the entire teaching profession had come under threat due to such actions. “We as teachers are responsible for the well being of all students and in this role we guide the few weak students to stay back in school so that we can personally tutor them. Now, no teacher will take a ‘risk’ because of suspicions and this in turn will harm the child,” she said.

The principal of another leading school in Yelahanka, who did not want to be named, said that by virtue of being the head of Cambridge school, Vyjayanthi had to own up responsibility for the incident.
DH News Service