Lucknow school where student was knifed to lose recognition

Lucknow, Jan 23: A school in the Uttar Pradesh capital where a Class 1 student was critically wounded last week in a knife attack by a senior girl is set to lose its recognition, an Education Department official said on Tuesday.

Officials said in the aftermath of the January 16 incident, an inspection was carried out at the Brightland School in Triveni Nagar which found "very many discrepancies" both in terms of education standards and the security of students.

The District Inspector of Schools (DIOS) of Lucknow Mukesh Kumar Singh has recommended to the Education Department that the recognition of the school be cancelled, the official told IANS.

Prima facie, the official said, the management has been found guilty of trying to fudge the matter and hide it from the police.

The DIOS said that various classes in the school were being run without permission and against norms, and the team set up by the government had found serious lapses in the security system.

The school was allowed by the Uttar Pradesh Board to have classes till Class 12 but was running additional certificate courses, which is illegal, the official said.

The management has claimed that it had installed 70 CCTV cameras in the premises, but there were only 64 and many cameras were found dysfunctional during the inspection, he said.

There was no attendant near the toilet, where the incident took place in which Hrithik was slashed with a kitchen knife by the Class 7 girl student.

District officials said the state government has directed them to conduct surprise inspections in various schools here to ensure that children are safe and that the managements were adhering to the norms.