The temporary in charge of North Delhi Municipal Corporation primary boys school in Wazirabad has been suspended after the allegations against him for segregating the students along the religious lines came to light.
The incident of separating the students based on their religion was reported by The Indian Express on Wednesday. The teacher, CB Singh Sehrawat, has denied any such segregation and said “it was a management decision to try and do the best we can to see that there are peace, discipline and a good learning environment in the school.”
According to the sources, a preliminary investigation pointed Sherawat as guilty of separating the students based on the religious grounds. “It was found that this segregation started in August, after the person took charge in July. He undertook this action without any kind of direction or guidance from any official from the education department. We received no information or complaint regarding this earlier. We were shocked when we heard about this,” said a senior official of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation’s education department.
According to reports from PTI, the HRD ministry has also demanded a complete report of the investigation. “We haven’t received any complaint yet but have read about it in media reports. I have asked for a report,” HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar was quoted as saying.
Delhi government has also demanded a report on the incident. “The act of segregating children in a BJP governed municipal corporation school is a conspiracy against the Constitution. I have asked the education director to look into the allegations and submit a report by Friday,” Delhi Education Minister Manish Sisodia said.
The Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights has also sent a notice to the head of the school and the director and has asked about the procedure followed to segregate the students in different sections. The notice also directed the current authorities of the school to immediately dissolve the current sections and ensure homogeneous distribution of the students among all the sections.
In a statement, Mayor, North Delhi, Adesh Gupta said: “Social divide on the basis of caste, community or religion will not be tolerated in schools of North Delhi Municipal Municipal Corporation… If any such divide is found to be in practice, it will be rectified immediately and strict action will be taken against those found guilty.”
He also confirmed that the teacher responsible for the action has been suspended.