This story is from July 19, 2015

Raipur School director accused of exploiting meritorious tribal students

In a bizarre case of exploitation of children, three meritorious students from the tribal areas of Bijapur and Kanker, who were sent to Vedanta School, Devendra Nagar, Raipur, for further studies under the government's Jawahar Utkarsh Yojana, allegedly ended up cleaning utensils and doing household work at the residence of the school's director rather than attending classes.
Raipur School director accused of exploiting meritorious tribal students
In a bizarre case of exploitation of children, three meritorious students from the tribal areas of Bijapur and Kanker, who were sent to Vedanta School, Devendra Nagar, Raipur, for further studies under the government's Jawahar Utkarsh Yojana, allegedly ended up cleaning utensils and doing household work at the residence of the school's director rather than attending classes.

The three children were "rescued" from the Kabir Nagar residence of the school director, Satish Sharma, by the legislators of Bhanupratapur and Keshkal, Manoj Singh Mandavi and Santram Netam respectively, on Sunday. Talking to TOI, Manoj Mandavi , said these three students had excelled academically in class V and were recommended for further studies to Raipur under the government's programme by the Tribal Welfare Commissioner.
The children, whose identity is being withheld, as they are minors, told media persons that they haven't ever seen the school and only working at the residence of the director. They said they were doing all household work, including cleaning bathrooms and giving massages, for the director and his family.
Accusing the director of making the children "bonded labourers", Mandavi said they had received a tip off about Sharma's "shady" doings and they reached his house to rescue them. He said the parents of the children were not aware about this and they always thought that they were studying and staying the school's hostel.
The MLA also alleged that Satish Sharma used several aliases, including Satish Kashyap and Kirti, while talking to the parents of the students on phone. "We suspect that this sort of exploitation has been going on for quite sometime and we would demand a thorough inquiry into the affairs of the school and its director", said Mandavi.
The children, accompanied by the MLAs, later visited the Kabir Nagar Police Station to launch a formal complaint against Sharma. Till the time of filing this report, a complaint had been lodged and police officials said they would inquire into the incident and take strictest possible action under the law.
When contacted Chairperson of Chhattisgarh State Commission for protection of Child Rights, Shatabdi Pandey, said, "a two-member committee would inquire into the incident and if the allegations are found to be true, we would recommend suspension of the accused and criminal action against him".
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