The governing body of Viqarunnisa Noon School and College has terminated the employment of acting principal Nazneen Ferdous, the school’s morning shift In-Charge Zinnat Ara, and morning shift Class Teacher of Class 9 Hasna Hena on allegations of driving a student to commit suicide.
The school authorities have also decided to resume all academic activities of the institution from Sunday, Golam Ashraf Talukder, chairman of the school’s governing body, confirmed to the Dhaka Tribune last night.
The decisions were made in line with the directives issued by the Ministry of Education, he further added.
He said the new acting principal would be appointed as soon as possible.
“We sat in an emergency meeting today [Wednesday], where we made some decisions regarding the school and college,” the governing body chairman said. “We will make a list of potential candidates for the post of acting principal. The names will be placed before the governing body at its next meeting, which will be held as early as possible.”
The meeting also decided to reschedule Wednesday’s final exam for tomorrow and today’s exam for Tuesday. Saturday’s exam is set to be held as scheduled.
He said the decisions would be forwarded through official letters and SMS to school officials, staff members and guardians.
Asked about the on-going protest by the school’s students, who are demanding the removal of the entire governing body, Ashraf said the issue had not been raised at the meeting. “If their allegation is proven against any governing body member, we will take action against them too,” he added.
Viqarunnisa students launched a protest on Tuesday, a day after Class 9 student Aritry Adhikary’s body was found hanging from the ceiling in her room at her Shantinagar residence in Dhaka.
The enraged students of Viqarunnisa continued their protests for the second day on Wednesday, demonstrating in front of the school’s main entrance.
The put forth six demands aimed for the governing body, which included the resignation of all three accused teachers and removal of the entire governing body.
The students said they would continue their demonstrations today as well, starting at 9am.
What happened?
According to the first information report (FIR) that Aritry’s father Dilip Adhikary filed with Paltan police station Tuesday night, Aritry committed suicide after she along with her parents was summoned to the school on Monday, because she had been caught with a mobile phone in an examination hall the day before.
Zinnat Ara, the morning shift in-charge, alleged that Aritry had been caught while cheating with the mobile phone during an exam, and told her parents that she would be given a transfer certificate, Dilip claimed.
Aritry and her parents pleaded with Zinnat, and later the principal, to forgive her and let her take the rest of the exams, but both the teachers were unmoved and rude to the family, Dilip further claimed.
Amid widespread criticisms over the incident, the school authorities issued a show-cause notice to Zinnat Ara in this connection.
Two probe committees were formed on Tuesday to look into the incident. One of the committees, formed under the directive of Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid, found Nazneen, Zinnat and Aritry’s Class Teacher Hasna Hena responsible for the tragic incident.
The probe committee also asked the law enforcement agencies to take legal action against the three teachers.
On Tuesday, the High Court bench of Justices Sheikh Hassan Arif and Rajik-Al-Jalil observed that the suicide of a schoolgirl was heart-rending, and termed the insults to her parents a “very bad example.”
When Barrister Sayedul Haque Sumon presented reports on the suicide, published in different newspapers, before the bench and sought its directives, the court asked him to file a writ petition.
Earlier on Wednesday, the monthly pay-orders (MPOs) of all three teachers were cancelled.
