Trust claims residents ‘unhappy with good performance of students from slums’

Two teachers at a bridge school for slum kids at Jharsa village here have been beaten up by the locals, who are allegedly opposed to the non-government organisation providing education to the underprivileged kids.

Following the attack two days ago, the NGO has shut down the school indefinitely, fearing for the security of the students and the teachers.

Kartik and Karan, both students of an engineering college at Jodhpur in Rajasthan, teaching at the school run by Eklavya Trust in Prempuri slums of Jharsa village, were returning to the school after a lunch outside around noon on June 13 when they were allegedly attacked by the residents.

Attacked with rods

According to the First Information Report, some construction work was going on outside the house of one Nathuram, a resident, and the construction material was lying on the road causing inconvenience to the passers-by.

When the duo sought some space to cross the road, Nathuram allegedly hurled abuses at them. When the two objected to his behaviour, Nathuram’s two sons allegedly attacked them with rods and sticks. The two ran for their safety and were chased by at least half-a-dozen men. The duo, however, managed to escape.

Brilliant students

Amit Garg, the founder of Eklavya Trust, told The Hindu that it was not the first such instance when the locals had targeted them. Mr. Garg said he had started the school around six years ago with three kids and now its strength had increased to around 300. All of the students are ragpickers.

“The trouble started a year ago with some of our kids earning laurels for their hard work. Many of them have now been admitted to English medium schools and 8-10 of them are very brilliant. This does not seem to have gone down well with a few locals. While most of them are supporting the cause, a few are opposed to the running of school,” said Mr. Garg.

He said instances of locals beating up the kids and molesting girl students are common, but he did not raise the issue as he didn’t want to escalate the situation.

FIR registered

“But now they have attacked our teachers and beat them up brutally. So we have decided to register a case. The police initially tried to put pressure on us to reach an agreement, but an FIR was registered with the intervention of the Commissioner of Police,” said Mr. Garg.

Kartik and Karan are teaching at the school as interns, said Mr. Garg.

Station House Officer, Sadar Bazar, Vijay Kumar said both the accused, Nathuram and his son Naveen, were arrested soon after the registration of the case and sent to jail. He claimed that the police had assured full co-operation to the NGO and there was no need for them to shut down the school.