Delhi School Chairman Says, Sahil Wanted To Be A Hero

Rubbing salt into the wounds of a 11-year-old boy  Sahil Sachdeva who jumped from the school building after being scolded and thrashed by a teacher, the principal of the school has commented that Sahil did this because he wanted to be a hero.

Ashok Jethi, the chairman of Mother Teresa Public School, Preet Vihar, says: “The teacher had only scolded him. He did this to become a hero”. Says Principal Neeta Jethi: “Sahil didn't jump. He slipped on the stairs and hurt himself”.

On orders of Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit, the state education department has got into the act.  The Directorate of Education apart from probing the causes behind the incident will also check whether the school management was following the guidelines prepared by the  National Commission For Protection Of Child Rights. The guidelines provided for complaint boxes to be set up in schools, so that students can put their complaints confidentially.  

Deputy Director of education Usha Rani says, a report has been sought from the school management.  The management is trying to project this as a case of accident.

Sahil,  a Class VI student  jumped from the second-floor balcony of  the school on Thursday after the English teacher scolded and slapped him for being late in class. Sahuil says, he was held up by his music teacher and was thus late.
 
Sahil was admitted to a nearby hospital with fractures in both his legs and  doctors said  he was out of danger.  

Sahil jumped from the second floor balcony and fell on the staircase, he said.  

School authorities did not rush him to hospital immediately. It was after the students gathered and the parents were informed by others that Sahil was taken to a nearby hospital where the  school management  told the doctors that the boy fell down while climbing the stairs.  

Sahil's parents  alleged that they were not allowed to enter the school to see their child for at least half an hour. It was only when they rushed to the hospital that they saw both the legs fractured and Sahil crying in agony.

"There are no external injuries on the boy except for the fractures in his legs," the official said.

Sahil's mother Sangeeta claimed that the boy told her that he jumped from the building after a teacher scolded him.

"He left our Gita Nagar home at around 8:30 am. After about half an hour we received a call that he was admitted to a hospital. My son told me that he jumped from the building after the teacher scolded him," she said.

Sahil's attempt to commit suicide due to a teacher bashing him up comes in the wake of similar incidents of torture of students taking place in different parts of the country.

 In Kolkata, a student of the prestigious La Martiniere School for Boys hanged himself to death when the principal threatened to take action against him if he did not disclose who among his classmates misbehaved inside the class. No action has yet been taken against that principal.

The central government has no law in place to deal with cases of corporal punishment in schools, already banned by the Supreme Court.