The shocking treatment meted out by a Delhi girls school to some of its students for the delay in the payment of tuition fees deserves unequivocal criticism.

Locking up girls in the basement for their parents’ failure to pay on time underscores how inhuman and profit-oriented our education system has become. The school in Old Delhi was apparently set up to bring “Muslim girls into the mainstream of education”.

The original credo was violated on Monday afternoon when the authorities took an extreme step that attracts charges under the Juvenile Justice Act. Sixteen children of KG and primary section had to suffer illegal confinement because the school thought that was the only way to arm-twist parents to cough up money.

If an educational institute behaves in such an irresponsible manner, how can it aspire to shape young minds for the country’s future? Of late, schools have mostly been in the news for all the wrong reasons. Many of them have displayed characteristics that run contrary to the basic principles of education.

Take, for instance, a renowned Pune private co-education school that had mandated all girl students to wear only white or beige underwear on campus. When this infringement of individual privacy created a furore, the authorities rescinded the order. But, it was clear what sort of values this so-called established school was trying to impart.

A few months back, a Kolkata girls school forced 10 students to give written confessions that they were lesbians. There seems to be no end to plumbing new lows. With public education system in ruins, the writ of private schools runs large, leaving students and parents at their mercy. Bizarre diktats, disproportionate fee hikes and victimisation of students are the new normal. The rot runs deep and virtually unnoticed, surfacing only when it’s “newsworthy”.