Times of India
04 October 2010
By Kshitiz Gaur
Ajmer, India

Student’s Eyes Bleed, Others Allege School Authorities Did Not Pay Attention To Him
Peeved at the indifferent attitude of school management, over 300 blind students belonging to Government Blind School at Adarsh Nagar in Ajmer, on Sunday, blocked the roads.

The incident not only exposed pathetic state of arrangement at the government–funded school, but also showed criminal negligence on the part of the school authorities towards blind students’ health. The outburst of the simmering discontent among the students was caused by authorities’ listless response to a student’s serious condition. One class IX student Lokesh Kumar’s eyes were bleeding since Saturday but there was no one in the school or the hostel to take him to a doctor.

For the past four days Lokesh had fever and on Saturday, morning he felt there were blood drops in his eyes, "I reported the matter to the teacher and the staff but they were busy with the Gandhi Jayanti celebrations and most of the staff went home," alleged Lokesh. According to the students the blood flow increased during the day and it was almost like tears of blood coming out from his eyes. "There is no warden and only a watchman in the hostel and we reported the matter to him but nothing was done" said a student.

"We saw blood on Lokesh’s bed on Sunday but there was no one to take care of him" said Roop Singh, student union president of Government College, Ajmer. As the school authorities did not pay any heed to the students’ pleas, the latter sought help from the city’s student organisations.

Students alleged that the mess provided them with chilli gravy in dinner instead of cooked vegetables. The other college students who reached the school hostel called the principal on phone and she then sent a man to take Lokesh to nearby satellite hospital.

"The man who took Lokesh to the hospital returned within a few minutes and said there is no doctor in the hospital," said Vaheed Khan, president of NSUI. This angered the students and they along with the students of the blind school blocked the national highway. However, police intervened and students were pacified when principal Ranju Pareek assured them to put things in order in a week. Students of blind school alleged that they are not getting proper food in the hostel which is arranged by the state government.

"They (authorities) think we are blind and instead of giving us cooked vegetables at dinner they serve us gravy of red chilli which affects our eyes," said a student. There is a norm in the hostel that above class VI, students will get 6 chapattis at a time and below that, the students will get 3 chappattis in supper. "Whenever we complained about burnt chapattis, they gave the same to the junior students and juniors were compelled to eat them," said a student.

"We have seen the mess of the hostel and it is in bad condition. The dustbin is full of waste chapattis," added Khan.

However, the principal refuted the charges and said, "There are proper rules and regulations in school and I was on leave as my daughter had met with an accident. Hence I am not aware why the students said these things." However, she assured to rectify the irregularities.