Spastic alleges harassment at school

MUMBAI, December 15: Dennis D'Souza, 16-year-old and a spastic, is slowly getting used to the idea of never going back to school. His paren...

MUMBAI, December 15: Dennis D’Souza, 16-year-old and a spastic, is slowly getting used to the idea of never going back to school. His parents complained that he was harassed by his principal and teachers on the slightest pretext.

According to his parents, on November 27, D’Souza was asked to come with his parents the following day failing which he will not be allowed into the class. His fault was that he wanted to know in a round-about-way the marital status of his favourite trainee teacher as he could not ask her directly.

Although his father called upon the principal, the latter refused to meet in the absence of his mother. The mother being a headmistress and the only earning member is yet to meet the principal.

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The executive assistant to the chairperson, Varsha V Hooja, however, maintained, “Dennis had been exhibiting all signs of adolescent behaviour in an extreme form for the past six months. "There were instances of obscene language and socially inappropriate behaviour. After one such incident, the parents were called for a discussion on the need for counselling. The father came alone, after a week, and refused to accept that any behaviour of Dennis needed to be remedied.”

Principal Shobha Sachdev maintained, “We insisted on the presence of the mother because being the head of a primary school she would understand the need for counselling. Dennis was asked to accompany his parents and not suspended.”