No classes for being ’weak’ in studies!

Noida school asks parents to shift girl to institute for kids with special needs

No classes for being 'weak' in studies!

Noida school asks parents to shift girl to institute for kids with special needs

Every time 10-year-old Muskan watches children in her locality go to school, she feels sad. For she herself has notu00a0 been able to do the same for the last one week because her school, Nehru International Public School, Noida, Sector-11, has barred her from attending classes, saying she is a slow performer and weak in studies.

Study leave: Muskan and her mother at their residence in Noida.
Pic/Imtiyaz Khan

Though the school has promoted her to class VI, they have asked her parents to shift her to a school meant for children with special needs. "My daughter Muskan is slightly weak in studies and as asked by the school authorities, we have shown her to a psychologist.

The reports given by the doctor suggest she needs a bit of special attention, but otherwise she is fit for attending a normal school," said Reshma, Muskan's mother. The school authorities had told Muskan's parents that they will decide whether to keep her in the school or not on the basis of the doctor's report. However, even after Muskan's parents showed them the medical reports which confirmed that their child's IQ was normal, the school still did not let her continue the studies there.

"My daughter has a problem in writing, but she is good in oral skills and vocabulary. She is a perfectly normal child. Seeing other kids go to school, she questions us as to why we are not sending her to school. We had bought her a uniform and books for the new session.

Now she is under a lot of mental pressure," said Reshma. Dr Roma Kumar, Clinical Psychologist at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi, said that Muskan was a perfectly normal child and did not need to go to a special school. On advice of the doctor, Muskan's parents had even arranged special tuitions for her but the school doesn't seem to relent. The parents also said the school vice-principal Vineeta was constantly pressurising them to put their daughter in a school for children with special needs.

Despite repeated attempts by MiD DAY to contact the school Principal Elina Dayal, she was not available for a comment. Chairman of Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights Amod Kanth saidu00a0 the act of expelling the student on the grounds of weak performance was a gross fault on part of the school.