Dilsukhnagar Sri Chaitanya School lift wobbled for 10 days

Hyderabad: Preliminary police investigation has revealed that the elevator of Sri Chaitanya School was in a dangerous condition for more than 10 days, but the school authorities had neglected to repair it.

East Zone police on Wednesday arrested one more person in connection with the lift mishap at Dilsukhnagar Sri Chaitanya School. The zonal manager of the school chain, Mr A. Satish has been charged with negligence.

“Prima facie evidence shows that the mishap occurred due to negligence of the school management. We have arrested three people including the principal and zonal manager,” said East Zone DCP A. Ravinder.

He added that the concerned officials had noticed the mechanical fault in the lift, but had ignored it. Police also found that the teachers would cram up to 10 children in the lift at a time.

“We suspect that the victim fell down as she was standing too close to the door since there were eight other kids in the lift,” an investigation official said.

Meanwhile, the Education Board has confiscated the school and shifted the children to another school nearby as the pre-primary school was being run illegally.

The district education officer has issued orders to conduct checks in all pre-primary, primary schools to ensure that standard safety measures are in place. The district education officer said the Board could not close down the other illegal schools because of the thousands of children admitted there.

“Our field officers are now conducting checks in schools across the city to ensure the buildings have standard safety measures implemented. Action will be initiated against the school management if there are violations,” said Mr Somi Reddy, district education officer of Hyderabad.

Asked if other schools run by Sri Chaitanya Schools would be shut down by the Board, the DEO said, “We cannot shut down those schools since so many children are studying there. Their future will be at stake.”

Play schools neglected by government

The Hyderabad Parents’ School Association (HSPA) on Wednesday alleged that despite having full control over pre-primary schools as per the amendment in the AP Education Act, 1982, none of the previous governments, or the present one, had taken any efforts to implement the provisions of the Act.

Earlier, the Hyderabad district education officer had claimed that playschools or kindergartens did not come under the Education Board’s purview.

However, quoting the amendment in the AP Education Act, HSPA members refuted the claim. “The amendment reiterates the definition of pre-primary given in the Act of 1982 and specifies the age group of admission as between 3-5 years. It also gives a list of “competent authorities” for each category of schools and it clearly says the DEO is the competent authority for pre-primary school,” said Mr V. Vikrant, president of HSPA.

“We hope that the government will similarly take up regulation of pre-primary schools and put an end to the profiteering motive to run such schools in Telangana,” said Mr Vikrant.

ABVP activists attack college

On Wednesday, a day after the lift mishap at Sri Chaitanya School in Dilsukhnagar, a group of students belonging to Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) ran amok at a LB Nagar campus of Sri Chaitanya College, leading to police intervention.

The students, who were from other colleges, arrived at the campus and started a protest, alleging that negligence by the Sri Chaitanya management had led to the elevator mishap in the Dilsukhnagar school.

The protest soon turned violent as the agitators damaged windowpanes, furniture and a printer in the college before leaving the premises.

The school management had to call the police to disperse the protesters. However, as the police reached the place, the agitators fled from the spot, officials said.

On a complaint filed by the college management, the police booked a case for criminal trespass, damaging property, and criminal intimidation against Satish and Nikhil, who claimed to be Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad leaders.

“They came in a group and started arguing with the college staff alleging the management’s negligence had lead to the mishap in Sri Chaitanya School at Dilsukhnagar. Then they damaged the properties,” said LB Nagar inspector E. Srinivas Reddy.

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