BORDUMSA, 28 Jun: A team of the Arunachal Pradesh Women’s Welfare Society (APWWS) and the Singpho Women Organisation (SWO), India, visited the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV) here in Changlang district on Thursday and interacted with its Principal Rajeev Ranjan to inquire about the recent incident of bullying of junior students by their seniors.
Stating that they do not take incidents of ragging and assault of any student lightly, the organisations in a press release vehemently condemned such behaviour.
They suggested to the school administration to “involve the local community in the PTC, as they would be the first responders in the event of any incident.”
The APWWS and SWO members, during their inquiry, found that no separate wardens were engaged in the hostels and the teaching staff had been entrusted with this additional responsibility, the release said.
The principal informed the team that “a similar system is followed in all JNVs all over India,” it said.
The organisations further informed that the total strength of teaching staff in the school is only 18, instead of 26,and that the school does not have a counsellor.
During their inspection of the girls’ and the boys’ hostels and the school campus, the team found the dormitories for the senior boys in a poor state with dirty bathrooms and toilets. The team stressed the need for constructing another hostel building for the girl students.
“JNV is a hope for many students belonging to poor families. The institution caters to many underprivileged children of the district; however, no education is worth the risk of one’s life. It’s time for the JNV to work on appointing separate wardens who would actually watch and guide these children, and JNV Bordumsa would have to focus more on the line of discipline, besides studies and extra-curricular activities,” the team said.
The organisations urged the state government – the education department in particular – to “formulate good policies for all schools and colleges in the state, with special reference to anti-bullying.”
“Strict laws should also be implemented against those educational institutions that fail to maintain proper functioning of the schools and colleges due to their lackadaisical approach,” they added.
Later in the day, the APWWS and SWO team, comprising its president Pisilu Singpho, secretary-general Pinna Kitnal M Singpho, and APWWS Miao unit president Nitu Singpho met Bordumsa ADC Oling Lego and apprised him of their findings.
The ADC on his part assured to look into the matter and form an inquiry committee at the earliest in order to find appropriate solutions to the problems.
