Mt Mary says sorry for making students ‘beg’
Vikrant Dadawala
Principal of Malad school says money collected at Bandra fair for new building will be handed over to the church.
Reacting to media reports on its students being forced to gather donations from visitors to a Bandra church fair for a new school building, Malad-based Mount Mary School announced it would be returning the amount collected to the Mount Mary church.
“I was not aware that student volunteers and a couple of teachers had gone to the Mount Mary festival. I don't approve of children being sent to collect funds without their parents’ consent. Though the teachers have apologised, I am going to take action on Friday,” Mestha said.
She added, “The money collected at the fair is yet to be counted. The collection boxes have not been touched. They will be handed over to church authorities in the presence of a third party, like the police.”
On Wednesday, parents launched an agitation outside the school in Malwani, alleging its authorities had forced their children to collect money in donation boxes at the fair, a fact which came to light only when they questioned their children over returning late from school.
According to the aggrieved parents, the children were forced to collect funds at the fair because they had not made a minimum compulsory donation of Rs 2,500.
Mestha said the donations are entirely voluntary, and each of its 850 students had been given five ‘appeal forms’ in May to collect donations of a minimum Rs 500 as sponsorship for the annual souvenir.
“These protests are fuelled by local politicians. If the parents had an issue, they should have approached us and I would have taken action,” she added.
“They gave my daughter five forms and asked her to get advertisements worth Rs 2,500. Where can she get them in a slum where people earn only Rs 5-7,000 a month? Children unable to raise the funds are discriminated against in school,” alleged Sheikh Imran Riyaz Ahmad, who was among the 50-odd parents who protested on Wednesday.
Not all parents were against the fund collection to raise Rs 5 crore for a new, seven-storey school building. Mohammed Sheikh, 30, said, “My daughter, now studying in Class X, has been a student here since nursery. This is the first time the school has asked parents to help. I am going to pay in instalments.”
Principal of Malad school says money collected at Bandra fair for new building will be handed over to the church.
Reacting to media reports on its students being forced to gather donations from visitors to a Bandra church fair for a new school building, Malad-based Mount Mary School announced it would be returning the amount collected to the Mount Mary church.
School principal Sushma Mestha told Mirror on Thursday that she would also take action against the teachers who asked 20 students, studying in Classes VIII to X, to approach visitors to the fair on September 14, 15, 16 for donations.
“I was not aware that student volunteers and a couple of teachers had gone to the Mount Mary festival. I don't approve of children being sent to collect funds without their parents’ consent. Though the teachers have apologised, I am going to take action on Friday,” Mestha said.
She added, “The money collected at the fair is yet to be counted. The collection boxes have not been touched. They will be handed over to church authorities in the presence of a third party, like the police.”
On Wednesday, parents launched an agitation outside the school in Malwani, alleging its authorities had forced their children to collect money in donation boxes at the fair, a fact which came to light only when they questioned their children over returning late from school.
According to the aggrieved parents, the children were forced to collect funds at the fair because they had not made a minimum compulsory donation of Rs 2,500.
Mestha said the donations are entirely voluntary, and each of its 850 students had been given five ‘appeal forms’ in May to collect donations of a minimum Rs 500 as sponsorship for the annual souvenir.
“These protests are fuelled by local politicians. If the parents had an issue, they should have approached us and I would have taken action,” she added.
“They gave my daughter five forms and asked her to get advertisements worth Rs 2,500. Where can she get them in a slum where people earn only Rs 5-7,000 a month? Children unable to raise the funds are discriminated against in school,” alleged Sheikh Imran Riyaz Ahmad, who was among the 50-odd parents who protested on Wednesday.
Not all parents were against the fund collection to raise Rs 5 crore for a new, seven-storey school building. Mohammed Sheikh, 30, said, “My daughter, now studying in Class X, has been a student here since nursery. This is the first time the school has asked parents to help. I am going to pay in instalments.”
