Private school in Odisha held 34 children hostage

A private school in Odisha punished the children for not paying the fees. Around 34 children were held hostage by the private Apeejay School (Apeejay Education Trust) in Bhubaneswar. The matter is on 22 August. The incident came to light after the parents' complaint. After this, on Tuesday, the Bhubaneswar Police registered an FIR against the CEO, Vice Principal and Management of the school.

The father of the child, who is studying in class 5 in a private School, told that when his son returned home on Monday, he was in depression. When asked, he said that after the exam, he was locked up along with the rest of the children. There was not even a fan running. Neither the children were allowed to bring tiffin nor allowed to go to the washroom.

The parent also said that they were just 100 meters away from the school. The school management could have called them. However, I had paid school fees in the evening itself. But such a criminal case cannot be left as such.

After 5 hours had passed in the school management, the children were taken out of the room and handed over a notice to deposit the fees in their hands. Some parents also said that despite so much harassment, what was the need to send notices to the children? The mother of a student said that there are 900 children in the school, but surprisingly, the school treated only 30 children with such arbitrariness. Even during the lockdown, the school did not reduce the tuition fee but increased it by 15-20% in this session.