*Anamika More* *8 January 2012*
*Vikhroli school convinces student that she is mentally 'weak' after fight with teacher, then suspends her, then allows her to resume classes after a month* * * *Mumbai* : *Sugaran (left) with her father Shankar Navate and Principal Charushila * *Vispute outside police chowki No. 3 at Vikhroli. pic/ Sameer Markande* In a strange turn of events, the authorities of a Vikhroli school, who were convinced that one of their students was mentally ill and had allegedly tried to commit suicide, allowed the student to resume classes, almost a month after the incident. On December 8, Sugaran Navate, a 13 year-old Standard 9 student of Vidya Mandir School in Vikhroli, was suspended from school, after the school principal felt that she tried committing suicide after an altercation with her class teacher. Navate had reportedly confronted her class teacher two days earlier when she learnt that one of her classmates was not punished for not wearing school shoes. On December 2, the same teacher had reportedly made Navate stand outside the classroom for half an hour for the same infraction of the school rule. "When I asked the teacher why she had not punished the girl (classmate), she said I was needlessly arguing and scolded me. I was in tears and I moved to the window so nobody could see me crying. But the teacher felt I was trying to jump off from the window," said Navate. According to the 13 year-old, despite trying to explain that she wasn't trying to commit suicide, the teacher complained to the principal. The principal reportedly decided to have her suspended from school until her parents wrote a note saying the school would not be blamed if such a situation occurred again. According to Navate's parents, Shankar and Suman Navate, "Raising voice against disparity of treatment doesn't mean my daughter is mentally ill. Why should we write such a note?" The school reportedly decided to allow Navate to resume classes from Saturday, without receiving any note from her parents, after a few regional language newspapers followed up on the case. When contacted, the principal of the school, Charushila Vispute, said. "Next time if something like this happens, we don't want to be blamed. We have, however, taken her back in school." http://www.mid-day.com/news/2012/jan/081211-School-suspends-suicidal-student.htm -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Mental Health Advocacy (News 'N Views) India" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/MhaNewsViewsIndia?hl=en ------------- Affiliated Groups : MENTAL HEALTH ADVOCACY INDIA [email protected] Discussions on mental health law / policy / plan monitoring / human rights etc [email protected] India-specific news and views related to mental health [email protected] Information and support to carers of people with mental health issues [email protected] Mutual support and sharing of experiential knowledge, skills and social learning amongst peers
