Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, July 6: A school is supposed to set examples before the students for leading ideal life but what happened in a school in Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh on Saturday would be better never seen by the pupils.
Shockingly, a video going viral on the social media showed the principal of the Bishop Johnson Girls School is physically evicted from her chair by a group of school staff members, and like a game of musical chair her successor occupies the chair the moment the principal was dragged out of it. The dramatic event, perhaps unprecedented in the annals of the country’s education system, is alleged to have links with a question paper leak scandal.
The video opens with a chaotic scene. A group of school staff, led by the institution’s chairman, enters the principal’s office and demands that she vacate her chair immediately. The principal resists leading to a forceful removal in which her phone is also taken away. Subsequently, the newly appointed principal is seated in her place, greeted with applause from those present.
The 2-minute-20-second clip capturing the pandemonium has caused uproar in the social media. At the heart of the controversy is an alleged multi-crore scam linked to an exam paper leak. Bishop Maurice Edgar Dan, representing the Diocese of Lucknow, has alleged that the school was embroiled in a multi-crore scam linked to the February 11 UPPSC Review Officer-Assistant Review Officer (RO-ARO) paper leak.
Bishop Dan said Vineet Yashwant, a staff member, was among those arrested by the Special Task Force (STF) in connection with the paper leak, with Principal Parul Solomon’s involvement also coming to light. He claimed that Ms Solomon’s removal was a direct consequence of her alleged involvement in the scandal.
On February 11, the paper was leaked before the start of the exam in Prayagraj. The UP STF arrested ten individuals, including Vineet Yashwant, the exam centre administrator at Bishop Johnson Girls School. The network allegedly leaked the paper at 6:30 am from the exam centre by taking a photo of it on a mobile phone.
Several videos of Saturday’s forcible removal of the principal have gone viral on the social media. In one of the video, the principal is seen demanding the staff members not to touch her mobile. In another part of the video, a female teacher forcibly takes Ms Solomon’s phone. Subsequently, other staff members move a large table obstructing Ms Solomon and begin pushing her chair. Eventually, Ms Solomon is removed from the office, and the new principal, Sherlyn Massey, is seated amid applause and clapping from the staff.
According to Bishop Dan, Ms Solomon was issued the termination order and Shirley Massey was appointed as the new principal, but Ms Solomon refused to budge. When Ms Massey arrived to take over, Ms Solomon allegedly locked herself in the principal’s office. When the door was forcibly opened, some teachers removed Ms Solomon from her chair. Bishop Dan has claimed that Ms Solomon has registered a case against the group for sexual abuse. However, he contends that despite Ms Solomon’s claims, video and CCTV footage show no physical contact.
Bishop Dan has provided additional videos to authorities. Nevertheless, videos of the alleged mistreatment of Principal Parul Solomon have not yet been released publicly.
Following Ms Solomon’s complaint, a case has been registered against several individuals including the chairman Bishop Maurice Edgar Dan and about a dozen others. The accused have already submitted video footages to the police in their defence that no manhandling was involved in forcibly removing the sacked principal from the chair. In a counter compliant, Bishop Dan has accused Ms Solomon of embezzling ₹ 2.40 crore from the school during her tenure as principal.