Adarsh students ‘made to do’ labour; inquiry ordered

Balwant Garg

Tribune News Service

Faridkot, November 23

The Faridkot district administration and the private management of Government Adarsh Senior Secondary School, Middumaan, are under scanner over an allegation that students are being engaged in construction work.

After a complaint in this regard was submitted, Faridkot Chief Judicial Magistrate Kapil Kumar and DEO Davinder Kumar Rajoria today conducted a surprise inspection at the school.

The state Director General School Education (DGSE) has ordered an inquiry into the allegation.

The school is working under a public-private partnership (PPP). It has been alleged that the private partner of the school was using students for construction at the school. The manager of the school was himself allegedly supervising the manual work being done by students.

Suspecting that some teachers had clicked pictures of students doing labour work, the school manager had also allegedly taken mobile phones of teachers in his custody and deleted all pictures.

However, an unknown complaint in this regard was submitted to the Free Legal Services Authority in Faridkot along with pictures.

In his report to the DGSE, the DEO has stated that the school manager was “very arrogant and non-cooperative” during the inspection. The DGSE has ordered a separate inquiry into the alleged exploitation of students, said the DEO.

While Hardev Singh, SDM and administrator of the school, declined to make a comment, Narinder Singh Randhwan, manager of the school, denied the allegation. He said students were voluntarily shifting some bricks from one place to another. He denied the allegation of forceful labour from students.