Pojewal (Nawanshahr), January 28
As 14 of the 43 students of the local Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, who had “left” the school under mysterious circumstances on January 25 night are still missing, their worried parents have started flocking the school to enquire about their wards.
The students had allegedly left the school to protest against the lack of proper food, the rude behaviour and highhandedness of their teachers. While 29 of them were found the next day from a nearby farmhouse by the Pojewal police chowki authorities the remaining 14, all of Class XII, are still missing. According to another version, the kids had left the school on the morning of January 26.
Last year, students of Navodaya Vidyalayas at Ropar and Ferozepore had also ran away from their respective schools.
Mr Davinder Singh, Principal of the Pojewal school and other staff, however, have denied the allegations of lack of food and rude behaviour of the teachers. They asserted that the boys had left the school “ on their own to show their solidarity with Gurvinder Singh, a student who was suspended from the school about three months back for his alleged misbehaviour with a girl student.” They alleged that the students were “instigated” and “misguided” to do so by the father of Gurvinder Singh and two students.”
Even as efforts are being made by the school and the police authorities to trace the missing students of Class XII, their anxious parents have started flocking the school.
“My son cannot be misguided by anybody. He is so intelligent and had secured the first position in the Class X exam. I am worried as I have not got any phone call from him so far. He had never talked about any tension in the school,” maintained Mr Satnam Singh, a resident of Bairampur village and father of Sukhdev Singh. He said the phone call by the school authorities informing them of the incident had left his wife shocked.
“We cannot say anything at the moment. I had not received any information on the happening from the school but I was informed by the parents of another missing student yesterday around 6.30 p.m,” said Mr Gurnam Chand, of Manna Kalan in Hoshiarpur district and father of Amanjot Kumar who is also missing. He maintained that his son had never
complained about lack of good food and had never talked about any confrontation, which according to the Principal was going on between a section of students and the school management over the readmission of Gurvinder Singh. On the contrary, he maintained, his son had told him that it was the girl who had slapped Gurvinder on September 27.
Similarly, Mr Jaspal Singh, resident of Mona Kalan and father of Harminder Singh, said though his son was missing since January 25, he was informed by the Principal on January 27. Some parents maintained that when they rang up the school after hearing about the incident yesterday, the person who answered the phone informed them that everything was normal and all students were “safe and sound”.
The students who are missing include Sukhdev Singh, Gurdeep Singh, Rajdev, Ranjeet Singh, Harminder Singh, Sukhjinder Singh, Amanjot Kumar, Amandeep Singh, Vijay Kumar, Rajinder Singh, Harjit Singh, Gurdeep Singh and Baljit Singh.
The Nawanshahr SSP Ms Neerja Voruvuru, was not available for comments. Officials at the Pojewal police chowki maintained that though they had been able to find 29 students, no formal FIR had been registered about the missing students.
The Principal said the allegation of lack of proper food and rude behaviour by teachers was baseless as the school was checked regularly by the DC, SDM and local MLA. “We try to provide every possible facility, within the budget, to them,” said Mr Davinder Singh.
A group of girl students also alleged that Gurvinder, who was suspended and shifted to Navodaya Vidyalaya at Nazo Chakk near Pathankot had misbehaved with a girl student, but they said that they had no reason to link the incident with the mysterious missing of students.
