Delhi school bullying video leaves parents, teachers worried

The video featuring a Class six student of a prominent school in south Delhi being bullied by fellow schoolmates that went viral, has left parents and teachers worried.

The video, which was circulated Wednesday through mobile messaging application, WhatsApp, featured a bunch of students kicking, shoving and hurling abuses at the student.

The video was reportedly shot by a student on a mobile phone.

"Mobile phones should be strictly banned. But then, parents of those students who go for private tuitions, give them mobile phones as they are worried about their children. However, the usage needs to be curtailed," Kiran Mehta, Salwan Public School principal, said Thursday.

Mehta said parents should be alert about their child's peers and keep track of the language being used by him/her.

"We, as educationists, have to curtail such behaviour at school. There is a need to have healthy interaction between the parents and teachers," Mehta told IANS.

Stating that the incident is of serious concern and cannot be ignored, the principal of the concerned school Wednesday said: "We have taken action against the students."

Lata Vaidyanathan, principal of Modern School, Barakhamba Road, refused to comment on the incident. "We don't comment on matters related to other schools," she said.

Expressing "shock", Paloma Ganguly, a mother of two, said schools should ensure that the students are not using abusive language inside their premises, which they pick up from the street.

"I am sure that the school authorities were aware that their students were using such kind of language in the school, but they chose to ignore it," she told IANS.

"If such language is used inside the house to address servants or any other person, children will pick it up. So parents and school both have their responsibility towards children," Ganguly said.

A primary school teacher said the blame collectively falls on the teachers and parents along with the environment where the children grow up.