A private school in Bengal’s Birbhum district allegedly forced its first standard students to take off the leggings they had worn to beat the cold. Parents of some of the students agitated over the issue on Monday.
The said school is located in Bolpur where the temperatures have dropped by a few degrees.
As leggings are not a part of the school uniform, school authorities forced the kids to take them off after the kids and their parents were advised several times to not send their kids wearing leggings. The school apologised for the incident.
Some parents said that their kids were not wearing underwears under the leggings and therefore, by forcing them to undress, the school outraged the girls’ modesty and shamed them.
A police complaint was filed at the Shantiniketan police station on Monday. Ananya Chakraborty, the chairperson of the West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights, said, “The incident is deplorable. We will conduct an inquiry.”
“The parents were warned many times in the past when children wore dresses that are not approved by our dress code. But the allegation that the children were stripped is incorrect. We have tendered our apology. I cannot understand why the parents are still agitating,” said Archana Fernandes, the school’s headmistress. “I will talk to the teachers,” she added.
“We have received a complaint. We talked to the teachers as well as the parents. We are looking into the matter,” said Abhisek Roy, sub-divisional police officer, Bolpur.
“I was shocked to see my child coming out of the school without her leggings. She did not have an underwear. This is outrageous. The head mistress should resign,” said the father of a child.
