Indian private school asphyxiates girls for money

This punk rock music video from New York City in the USA is called THE RAMONES– I DON’T WANT GO DOWN TO THE BASEMENT- CBGB 1974.

Little girls at private schools in India have a very good reason not to go to the basement.

From the Hindustan Times in India, 11 July 2018:

16 girls ‘confined’ in Delhi school’s basement for 5 hours over non-payment of fees

The Delhi police have registered a case against a private school in central Delhi’s Hauz Qazi after some parents alleged that 16 girls, aged 4 and 5, were confined to the “basement” of the school on Monday for “non-payment” of monthly fees.

The parents alleged that the children were locked in the basement without food and water for nearly five hours. It was only when they came to collect their wards that the girls were rescued, the parents alleged. …

A case under Indian Penal Code Section 342 (wrongful confinement) and Juvenile Justice Act section 75 (cruelty to child) was registered at Hauz Qazi police station on Monday. “We have sent a notice to the school principal. We will also record the statements of all concerned parents”, said the police.

The parents of the girls said that they had sent their children to the school at 7.30 am on Monday. “When we arrived to pick [up] our children, the teachers told us that they had been locked up in the basement as we hadn’t paid their fees for June. However, we had paid advance fees up to September”, alleged one parent.

Many parents produced receipts which they claimed were of fees that were already paid. A news channel showed some children crying in the “basement” where they were allegedly confined.

The principal claimed that the teachers wouldn’t have known even if the fees had been paid as a slip meant to be handed over to them hadn’t been received.

“Each fee slip has a teacher’s slip attached to it. If that slip is not handed over to the teacher, how will they know that the fees have been paid”, the principal said.

The parents, however, contested this claim by saying that the date on which the teacher’s slip is to be handed over is the 11th of every month. “Why wasn’t a notice issued to us in the previous week?” a parent asked.

From the Times of India today:

Kids locked in Delhi school for fees, principal booked

The Times of India report mentions the school’s name, Rabeya Public School. This is not a ‘public school’ as understood in the USA and most other countries. It is a private school, like Eton and other ‘public schools’ in Britain are private schools.

Think about the ordeal these Indian girls went through for money when some politician advocates privatising education. Which went wrong in Sweden. Like Donald Trump’s Secretary of Miseducation Betsy DeVos is trying in the USA. Like Bill Gates’ unhygienic substandard private schools in Africa.