1. ICSE Directs Schools to Install CCTVs in 2 Weeks
All ICSE schools have been given two weeks to install CCTV cameras in classrooms and everywhere else on their campuses, except the washrooms. Several of Kolkata’s top ICSE institutes, including St James' School, Modern High School for Girls, and St Xavier’s Collegiate School (senior section), do not have CCTV surveillance in their classrooms.
The circular issued by the council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations on Monday, 4 December, makes it binding on all institutes to extend camera coverage to almost every section of the campus. "We are upgrading the safety manual for schools, but for the time being they will have to adhere to the measures specified in the circular," said Gerry Arathoon, secretary and chief executive of the Delhi- based council.
The trigger for the directive was apparently the alleged sexual assault by two teachers on a four-year-old student at the GD Birla Centre for Education.
(Source: The Telegraph)
2. Cops Quiz GD Birla School Principal
The principal of GD Birla Centre for Education was questioned in Lalbazar for more than six hours on Tuesday, 5 December, during which she purportedly told investigators that it was "not my individual decision to not install CCTV cameras in the school.” The demand for CCTV surveillance had been first raised after a nursery student of the Regent Park School was allegedly molested three years ago. But that incident had occurred outside the campus — allegedly on a bus hired by the school to ferry children to the venue of a cultural rehearsal.
Cameras were installed in the school building only last weekend, two days after a four- year- old student was allegedly sexually assaulted in a washroom by two physical education teachers.
Principal Sharmila Nath said the decision to not have CCTV cameras on the campus earlier was not hers alone.
"She said without naming anyone that it was a collective decision by the management, keeping in mind privacy issues in a girls’ school," said an officer.
(Source: The Telegraph)
3. School Bans Pool Cars for Nursery Kids
La Martiniere for Girls has asked parents of nursery students to either personally drop and pick them up from school or have a family member do it for them, ruling out unescorted pool cars as a transport option.
"Nursery kids need personal care. Parents or family members should pick or drop them up. They are too small to be looked after by others for their safety. Even if parents carpool, every child should be taken care of by a parent or a family member, " Rupkatha Sarkar, principal of the school, said.
The new rule was communicated to parents on Monday, 4 December. "Kindly note that the use of car pools is strictly prohibited with effect from 16 January 2018," states the circular.
Since neither of the La Martiniere institutions has a bus service of its own, a section of parents depends on pool cars to ferry their children to and from school. This includes nursery students who are barely self-aware, making them the most vulnerable group in terms of child abuse. Schools have been tightening their safety norms in the wake of the alleged sexual assault by two teachers on a four-year-old student at GD Birla Centre for Education.
(Source: The Telegraph)
4. Remand for School Employee
The employee of MP Birla Foundation Higher Secondary School, who was arrested on Monday, 4 December, in connection with an alleged sexual on a child, has been remanded to police custody for seven days. Manoj Manna, who was on the cleaning staff of the Behala school, has been charged under Sections 4 and 6 of the Protection of Children for Sexual Offences (POSCO) Act, which deal with aggravated sexual penetrative assault.
Public prosecutor Radha Kanta Mukherjee said Manna had "confessed to the crime" and said a man named Ganesh was "also involved in the crime.”
Sk Salim Rahman, the lawyer appearing for Manna, submitted in the Alipore court, where the accused was produced, said: "He should have been arrested earlier had the police identified him before. It seems the police have been under pressure from various quarters since the GD Birla incident. Acting under pressure, the police claimed to have identified my client as the accused. I wonder whether a three-and-a-half-year-old can at all recall a face after more than two months."
The parents of the girl, who had allegedly been sexually assaulted, had lodged a complaint with Behala Women police station in September. It was only on Monday that the police made the first arrest in the case.
(Source: The Telegraph)
5. KMC Report Confirms Dengue 72 hrs After Test, 24 Hrs After Death
North Kolkata’s first dengue victim of the season died on Sunday, 3 September, even as she and her family were waiting for the confirmatory blood test report from a KMC clinic, a TOI investigation has revealed. Tumpa Rajak’s report was ready for delivery on Monday morning, 72 hours after her blood test and more than 24 hours after she had passed away at Marwari Relief Society Hospital. The reason: the KMC dengue clinic at Rajballabhpara, where the 37-year-old victim had got her blood test done, was shut during the weekend.
The report confirmed dengue. KMC dengue clinics are supposed to remain open on Saturdays, but the last one was a public holiday. This Sunday was also the first when clinics were allowed to be shut since the state government made them remain open on weekends from August. A senior KMC Health Department official admitted the civic health clinic was closed for two consecutive days and so the report could not be prepared and delivered.
(Source: The Times of India)
6. KMC to Simplify New Tax System
After a poor response from the property owners, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation is set to amend the unit area assessment (UAA) method for determination of property tax. Mayor Sovan Chatterjee on Tuesday, 5 December, held a high-level meeting with the civic top brass to decide the future course of action and boost the tax payers’ confidence by simplifying the present structure of UAA.
Chatterjee expressed his concern over the response for the new method of property tax determination. According to an estimate, of the city’s 7.5 lakh assesses, just over 40,000 tax payers have so far applied for the new system. “It is really a matter of concern that after eight months of UAA’s introduction, we have failed to convince the tax payers to accept the new method. Now, we have to offer the property owners a more simplified and scientific method to be churned out of the existing form of UAA,” Chatterjee said. Mayor pointed out some anomalies in the calculation of tax under the UAA system. First of all, Chatterjee asked why the UAA sought to charge city’s commercial properties at a rate which is “irrational”. Secondly, the mayor asked KMC assessment department officials to simplify multiplicative factors, such as location of a building, its age etc.
(Source: The Times of India)
7. Mukul Hits Road With Body Politics
After shaking up the Trinamool top leadership with his allegations on the Biswa Bangla logo, BJP’s new war horse Mukul Roy hit out at Trinamool on Tuesday, 5 December, by engaging in body politics. Roy is seasoned in this art from the days of 2,000 Panskura Lok Sabha bypoll when, as a Trinamool stalwart, he walked with seven bodies of victims killed by alleged CPM harmads at Kespur.
On Tuesday, Roy led a procession from Kharagpur’s Chowringhee with the body of BJP worker Bipin Das, who succumbed on Monday to injuries sustained in an alleged clash with Trinamool men at Kantapal in West Midnapore’s Dantan last Friday. Das’s body was brought to Kharagpur around 12.30pm from M R Bangur hospital. Roy led the convoy of 12-13 vehicles, including the hearse carrying Das’s body.
The convoy travelled some 70 km from Kharagpur’s Chowringhee to Dantan. Roy said, “The promised change (poribartan) has not happened. I have therefore joined BJP to reverse the false change. The latest death in Danton is evidence of Trinamool torture. We will pay Rs 5 lakh to the family. The family will get justice.”
(Source: The Times of India)
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