New Delhi: Modern School Vasant Vihar in the Capital will remain closed for two days following outrage over its student Akkriti's death. The student had allegedly suffered an asthma attack in school.
The National Commission for Child Rights has ordered an inquiry following allegations of negligence by school authorities.
The decision to close the school was taken after students and parents protested against the school authorities on Thursday. The protests turned ugly when they surrounded the school Principal, Goldy Malhotra, and accused her of negligence and callous attitude.
Akkriti's parents had alleged that she was not provided adequate medical aid by the school.
Anguished parents and screaming students took on the school authorities alleging that Akkriti would have survived if they had rushed her to the hospital.
Akkriti's parents, who are still in a state of shock, squarely blamed the Principal for their daughter’s death.
“Goldy Malhotra killed my daughter. She should be charged for murder,” Akkriti's father Vipin Bhatia said.
While Akkriti's mother Vani Bhatia said the school had a moral duty to give her daughter oxygen and call an ambulance.
The Delhi government has also ordered a probe into the death.
School’s version
According to the school, the Commerce student complained of breathing trouble at 1020 hrs IST on Tuesday morning; she was attending class at the time.
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She was reportedly given first-aid in school and taken to Holy Angels Hospital, Basant Lok, where doctors declared her dead on arrival. Akkriti reportedly suffered from asthma.
While school authorities said the school nurse gave Bhatia oxygen and then took her to hospital, her father Vipin Bhatia alleged, "They waited till we sent a car to take her to the hospital; that's why she died. They had asked her to go to the second floor for permission to go home, and then asked her to go to the sports teachers' room. All this running around aggravated her problem."
However, Goldy Malhotra denied there was any delay on their part. She blamed the family for the delay in taking her to hospital.
"She was given oxygen and then she said she felt much better. The teacher told her she won't be taken to her home because she needed medical help. Then she was taken into the car and she was made to speak to her mother through the driver's phone. Mrs Kutty (the teacher who accompanied her to the hospital) also told her mother to come along because it's an emergency situation. Sometime between then and before she was taken into the hospital, she collapsed," the Principal stated.
The Managing trustee of Modern School, Ashok Pratap Singh said, "This was a very unfortunate incident. I am going to make sure an investigation is conducted."
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