Karnataka: 17-year-old delivers baby in school toilet; staff suspended, probe ordered | Bengaluru News
YADGIR: A class 9 girl of a govt residential school delivered a baby boy in the institution’s restroom in Shahapur taluk of the district on Wednesday evening in a case of shocking lapses by the school & hostel staff.Karnataka Educational Institutions Society executive director Kantharaju suspended the school principal, hostel warden, science teacher and physical teacher on charges of dereliction of duty.According to district police, the 17-year-old girl delivered the baby after completing the full term, and none of the staffers noticed any behavioural changes in the student.The action follows a complaint from district child protection officer Nirmala with Shahapur police station. Shahapur in North Karnataka is 550km from Bengaluru.Deputy commissioner Harshal Bhoyar termed the incident “unfortunate” and said the school failed to report the incident to the district administration. “The case is being investigated from different angles, including child marriage,” he said and refused to give further details, calling it a sensitive case. Shashidhar Kosmbe, member of Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, told TOI the school staff kept “the shocking incident a secret” and they failed to perform their duties.According to rules, a staff nurse should conduct monthly health and menstrual checks on girl students of the hostel and make note of any health issues or behavioural changes in them. “No such efforts were made in the school to curb this incident. We are really wondering why school staff members didn’t bother about the girl’s condition until she gave birth in the restroom,” he said, adding the mother and her child are healthy and have been shifted to a govt hospital.The commission has instructed the district child protection officer to submit a thorough report on the incident. “We’ve spoken to the SP to file an FIR after receiving a complaint from the district child protection officer. The commission has already filed a suo motu case against the school authority. The deputy director of district social welfare has been directed to take disciplinary action against the school staff,” he added.
