Source: Hueiyen News Service
Imphal, July 24 2009:
The Slopeland Public School situated at Salt village near Khongjom under Kakching police station in Thoubal district has been indefinitely closed due to tension arising out of the death of a student of the school.
Irate guardians and public destroyed the waiting shed of the school and the school signboard.
The student, Gurumayum Chitaranjan Sharma (15), s/o G Gourachandra Sharma of Tekcham bazar, who was staying in the school boarding died around 11 pm yesterday.
Police rescued five teachers who were under seize by the guardians inside the school.
Police said the student died due to his illness last night at Thouba district hospital.
On hearing the news of the death, public and guardians early today thronged the school boarding located within the school premise and ransacked the school building alleging that the boy died due to negligence on part of the school management.
They said, if the school authority had taken care of the student in the boarding and taken him to a hospital in time or informed the parents of the student, the boy could have been saved.
The guardians also evacuated their children from the boarding today around 7 am and ransacked the school structures before the police arrived and control the mob.
Police also rescued at least five teachers staying in the boarding from being gheraoed by the guardians.
Tension was running high in the school campus but the situation has been put under control, said a police officer in Thoubal district police headquarters, who informed that police have taken up measures to protect the area.
Reports say that the sick student was taken to the hospital on an Honda Activa instead of arranging a more convenient vehicle.
One student of the school, Laishram Deben of Heirok, had also died due to negligence of the school authority in 2005, the reports added.
Students complained that the school authority including the staff nurse and wardens were neglecting the health condition of the boarders.
The family members of Chitaranjan also said that the school authority did not bother to give information to the family members of the dying student.
They said the family members were informed only last night that the student was admitted at a private clinic at Wangjing.
While the family members were preparing to visit their ward at Wangjing, they were told that he was referred to RIMS hospital.
When the family members went to the RIMS hospital they could not locate their ward.
Later, they were informed that he was admitted at Thoubal district hospital, they said.
But when they reached Thoubal district hospital, they came across the dead body of their ward covered with a white cloth in a dark room.
Surprisingly, no member of the school authority was present at the hospital.