Hyderabad: In an incident of official apathy, a seven-year-old girl was locked inside a Zilla Parishad school in Nizampet till after 6 pm earlier in the week. The parents of the girl, however, chose not to file a complaint about the incident after the school management apologised profusely.
The victim, seven-year-old Anjali V., said she had fallen asleep inside her classroom and woke up to find herself locked in, with nobody on the premises. Meanwhile, Anjali’s older sister, unable to locate her after school hours, rushed to her parents, following which they initiated a search on the route leading from the school to their residence.
Anjali, in the interim, had managed to open a window and was crying out for help.
Around 6 pm, parents started reviewing footage from CCTV cameras installed in the vicinity, during which they heard a girl’s cries emanating from the rear section of the school.
The parents, with the help of their relatives and neighbours, broke into the school. Upon the parents’ intervention, two housekeeping staff members arrived and the school's management promptly apologised for the grave oversight.
The parents, relieved to have found their daughter unharmed, chose not to file a complaint.
“We're relieved to have found her; the worst thoughts crossed our minds, but we're happy to have found her safe and sound. The school apologised, and we only hope something like this never happens again to any parents ever,” one of the parents said.
This incident left many worried over the lack of vigilance and communication protocols within educational institutions.
