Tonsuring of students: Joseph's School stoutly denies role

St Joseph’s Indian High School has been wrongly accused of tonsuring its students and the institution has nothing to do with the incident, the management has claimed.

Last week, a complaint was lodged by the parent of one of the boys that the school had forcefully tonsured some of the students as punishment for skipping classes.

Speaking to Deccan Herald on Tuesday, Fr Praveen, management member, St Joseph's Institute, said, “The incident has taken place at St Louis Boarding. The school or the school principal has got nothing to do with it. In fact, the director and the assistant director of the boarding are appointed by the management and the school has no role in it. The factors binding the boarding and the school are that the same management runs both and that the children in the boarding home attend this school.”

The boarding home caters for rural students and when the parents leave their children here, they give the management the responsibility to take care of the health and hygiene of the students. “The students approached the assistant director with the problem that they had lice. They wanted to be tonsured. However, the assistant director told them that it was enough if they washed their hair.”

He added that later the students approached the class X student (accused of tonsuring) asking him to “shorten their hair”. The student knows how to give a haircut and upon request by his hostelmates he sometimes gives basic haircut, Fr Praveen said.

The management has also specified that out of the eleven students, three tonsured their heads “not even at the hostel but in their respective places as a way of fulfilling a religious vow.”

As for the rest of the students, their heads were not tonsured but their hair was shortened after a request from the students themselves, Fr Praveen clarified.

Further, the younger brother of the boy who has complained about this to his parents also stays in the same hostel and he has stated that the boys voluntarily approached the class X student for a haircut. The younger brother continues to stay in the hostel, according to Fr Praveen.

He said the student who had complained had a habit of missing classes, but the other students had not missed any classes and the need to punish them was out of question.

In the wake of the incident, a show-cause notice has been issued to the school seeking their explanation. The State Juvenile Protection Unit and the Block Education Officer have also visited the school to inquire into the incident. The BEO has submitted a report in this regard to the education department.