Ranchi: A reputable ICSE-affiliated English medium school, St Thomas School, Dhurwa, has come under the scanner of the district administration for serious security lapses in school buses, not having a toilet for support staff and irregularities related to fees and textbooks.
Contacted, Ranchi SDO Anjali Yadav, who inspected the 30 school buses on Saturday, told this paper on Sunday she found certain serious irregularities.
Though she spoke briefly, saying she was busy with Ram Navami duties, her WhatsApp group, SDO RNC News Group, gave more details.
The WhatsApp message, a copy of which is with The Telegraph, says, "During the inspection, it was found that the school had signed a contract with seven agencies to provide school buses but there were major lapses in the security system of school buses. No GPS, no security camera, no first-aid boxes and expired extinguishers (those past expiry date) were put within the buses."
The WhatsApp message further said how the school was promoting open defecation by support staff.
"Another major lapse is the absence of toilet facility for drivers and conductors (who are) hence forced to defecate in the open outside the school premises" the message reads.
The SDO's WhatsApp group also said they found some unsafe places on the campus as well as irregularities in fees and textbook changes.
According to the message, the school has been changing books year after year in the last three academic sessions and charging fees under slabs such as "biometric attendance and development fees were charged from students which were highly unreasonable".
SDO Yadav said she would report the matter to the South Chotanagpur commissioner after the administrative exercise related to Ram Navami got over latest by Tuesday.
This inspection is a fallout of decision taken on December 12, 2017, in a meeting chaired by South Chotanagpur commissioner Dinesh Chandra Mishra with representatives of various ICSE and CBSE affiliated schools.
In the meeting, it was decided that each school will follow Supreme Court guidelines for a safe school bus service, enforce the Right to Education Act and start a one-stop grievance redress system and feedback forum.
It was also decided in the meeting that no school will force any parent to purchase book from a particular shop and will also ensure textbooks stay unchanged in the syllabus for at least three years.
Several attempts to contact St Thomas School principal Sibu Abraham Mathew for his comments proved futile.
Contacted, former principal of the school Moni Mathew, now in Kerala, also said he did not have the current principal's number.
