The protest demonstration by the students of the National Institute for Visually Handicapped(NIVH), demanding prompt action on the complaints made by them against a section of the teachers and the director, has entered its fifth day on Monday. The students said that their stir would continue till the teachers, accused of sexual molestation and others, are not put behind bars and the director of the institute Anuradha Dalmiya is not removed from the post. They vented anger over the accused teacher Suchit Narang still roaming free.
Speaking to The Pioneer, one of the agitating students of NIVH Kewal Krishna said, “The campus is facing not one but many issues. Sexual molestation is one of the issues. The institute lacks basic facilities. There are around 30 points which need immediate attention, but unfortunately none of them is being addressed. This is not the first time that we have come up with these problems. But the administration remains apathetic.”
Students have levelled serious allegations against a section of the teachers of the institute. But no action has been taken against any one of them, they said.
NIVH being one of the top institutes for the visually handicapped children in Asia, the state of things at the institute as alleged by the students is appalling. The students alleged that Suchit Narang, a teacher, used to molest the students orally and physically. As per the allegations, not just the girls but the boys also have got molested in the same manner. They say that they had informed the director of the institute of their plight. But the director chose to suppress things, they said.
The students are also raising the deplorable condition of the institute in terms of basic facilities. They say that the medical facilities they get cannot be worse. They further point out the deplorable condition of the hostels and the cafeteria. They are firm in their view that as NIVH director Anuradha Dalmiya has been holding the post for 12 years, she must be made to leave now.
Quizzed over the allegation of the students, the Director NIVH Anuradha Dalmiya said that they were trying by all means to meet the demands of the students. “A committee has been constituted to probe the charges. The accused teacher has been suspended and the police investigation is going on,” she said.
Asked to comment on the students’ demand for her removal from the post of the director, she said that she would leave when the right time comes. “The students did not come to me earlier. The complaints were made just verbally,” she added.
The chairperson of State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR), Usha Negi who visited the institute for on- the-spot study of the situation on Monday, said that their team is checking things at the institute to verify the rightness of the points raised by the students. “I myself will speak to the students and will help them on the matters they are highlighting,” she said.