BADLAPUR: The Badlapur school-cum-college, which was shut on Aug 20 after a mob of 300 protesters broke in and vandalised it, is expected to resume classes on Monday. It has more than 12,000 students, from nursery to postgraduation, and many parents are worried that their education is being interrupted.
On Friday, some parents gathered outside the school and demanded that it reopen.They said action should be taken against those who failed to act on the sexual abuse of the two girl students, but their children were unfairly suffering too.
Following the vandalism, the school education minister had dismissed the school’s administrative body and appointed Kunda Pandit, the deputy education officer of Thane district, as its administrator. Pandit began work on Thursday, but according to sources, she has not been able to reopen the school owing to the ongoing SIT probe and daily visits by politicians. Pandit told TOI that she plans to resume classes on Monday. “We will inform all schoolchildren and their parents about this on Saturday,” she said.
On Aug 20, some 2,000 people had gathered outside the school at 6.30am, demanding a meeting with the school administration. When that demand was not met, an angry mob of 300-400 people broke the school gate, entered the nursery section and destroyed the furniture in the classroom and windows across the school. Police had to resort to a lathicharge to disperse the protesters.
A Class 9 student said she has been anxious since there had been no word on when classes would begin again, while a second-year BCom student demanded that politicians stop making a beeline for the school and the SIT speed up its probe.
Meanwhile, the work of installing CCTV cameras and repairing old ones began at the school on Friday. The probe into the sexual abuse case had revealed that the cameras on the school premises were defunct. On the day of the vandalism, the school education minister had directed all private schools to ensure installation and maintenance of CCTV cameras.