The management of Shanti Asiatic School, Shela area, tried to hide a fire that broke out at the primary section in the school basement, following a short-circuit at the switch board in the hallway on Thursday. They later claimed the blaze was minor and doused in five minutes.

After learning about the fire incident from their wards, many angry parents reached the school on Friday and staged a protest, demanding CCTV footage to validate the school’s claims.

One of the protesting parents said: “The school should have informed the students and their parents if a mock drill was being conducted. They only accepted this later. They should have informed us yesterday (Thursday) only, they rather denied and hid the incident.”

On learning about the protest by parents, District Education Officer (Rural) Krupa Jha reached the spot and ordered an inquiry into the matter. “The school only accepted that a fire broke out on the premises after we checked CCTV footage, otherwise initially, they had tried to hide it by terming it a mock drill… A short-circuit in the electricity board led to the fire, which was later doused, causing heavy smoke in the area. Children were evacuated, but it led to a panic situation,” Jha told The Indian Express on Friday.

The local police and FSL teams are checking the school campus, and “till an audit of the building is complete, the school will remain shut and only conduct online classes”, Jha said. “Prima facie, we found negligence on the school’s part. We will conduct a detailed investigation into the incident. We will take strict action against those found guilty… State Education Minister Kuber Dindor is in touch with us, and ensured that all necessary steps will be taken,” Jha added.

Following this, school director Abhay Ghosh claimed that the fire was minor and was put out in five minutes. “We are not hiding anything. Our trained staff immediately took control of the situation. It was not a major fire. The smoke was more than the actual fire. There was a miscommunication from someone that it was a mock drill. If parents feel we were hiding something, we are ready to apologize,” Ghosh said.

“The fire incident has not been reported by you (school management) to this office. Furthermore, you do not seem to be primarily concerned about the safety and security of the students. Any incident in your school should be reported to the head office, which you have failed. It is a serious offence… Submit a written explanation within two days…,” read a show-cause notice by the District Primary Education Officer, adding that failing this, action will be taken against the school under the RTE Act.

Another parent, meanwhile, said that the school management had immediately painted that room and changed the switch board to cover up the incident and mislead parents and officials. “Since yesterday (Thursday), we have heard four different versions of the incident by the school management. After parents inspected the school, it was learned that the area in the basement, where the fire erupted, was painted by the school overnight,” said the father, also alleging that the school has no emergency exit and students were suffocated during the blaze.

“The CCTV footage clearly shows a fire in an AC in a room in the basement, where students gather for activities. Our children were evacuated by teachers. However, when we inquired, the management told us that it was a mock drill,” another angry parent said.
– With PTI inputs