Fwd: what schooling means for many children in India

  Minor girl made to do 500 sit-ups for refusing to clean teacher's toilet

http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/MadhyaPradesh/Minor-girl-made-to-do-500-sit-ups-for-refusing-to-clean-teacher-s-toilet/Article1-1109457.aspx

Madhya Pradesh SC/ST Commission on Sunday lambasted the district education department and Betma police for showing leniency to superintendent of Betma's Kasturbagram Government Girls Hostel, who allegedly punished a minor girl.

The commission ordered the education department to remove Superintendent Sandhya Tiwari from the post with immediate effect and ordered a probe against her.

Tiwari forced an eighth class Scheduled Caste (SC) girl to do 500 sit-ups after she refused to clean toilet at her residence on August 8. The girl fainted after completing 490 sit-ups.

The victim and her mother, who came to Indore all the way from Depalpur, narrated the whole incident to the commission member Jagdish Devera after police showed no interest in their case.

Victim Tanu and her mother Kalabai, wife of Shankarlal, resident of Singoda village under Depalpur tehsil alleged that Tiwari allegedly asked Tanu, who was residing at the hostel to clean her residence toilet. When she refused to follow her order, Tiwari ordered her to do 500 sit-ups.

The girl, who is still facing difficulty in walking even after 10 days of the incident, said Tiwari used derogatory words against her and her grandmother who came to her hostel on August 9 to take her back.

Victim's mother said that even Betma police took the matter lightly and used derogatory words against her when she rushed to the police station to lodge a complaint against the hostel superintendent.

After taking statement of both victim and her mother, commission member Devera ordered education department to remove Tiwari with immediate effect and initiated probe against her. The commission also ordered Betma police to register an FIR against the hostel superintendent.

Speaking to Hindustan Times, Devera said that after preliminary investigation commission found that the 15-year-old girl, who belonged to the SC category, was victimised by the hostel superintendent and the commission will take stern action against her if she was found guilty in an investigation by the commission.

"We don't want her on the post till the investigation is going on as she might manipulate the investigation or will threaten the victim," Devera said.

District education officers who were present during the meeting claimed that the department had formed three-member investigation panel to probe the incident after it came to the fore.