CBSE cancels affiliation of school following gang-rape of minor student

The CBSE has cancelled the affiliation of a leading private boarding school here after it allegedly kept under wraps the gang-rape of a minor student for over a month.

The Central Board of Secondary Education issued an order on Tuesday cancelling the affiliation of GRD World School, Bhauwala, for not giving a satisfactory reply to a show cause notice served to it by the regional office of the board in the wake of the incident, Regional Officer CBSE, Dehradun, Ranvir Singh said.

The action follows a recommendation to this effect by the state government after the chief education officer visited the school premises following the incident and found it guilty of violating various norms, including non-installation of CCTV cameras and non-deployment of enough security staff on the campus, he said.

It is for the first time that such action has been taken against any educational institution in the state.

Singh, however, said guardians of students already enrolled in the school have nothing to fear as they will be taken care of by the CBSE. As per the order, there will be no fresh admissions in class IX-XII at GRD World school.

Nine people, including four students of the same school, accused of perpetrating the crime on the girl and five school officials and employees, including its director and principal, have already been apprehended in connection with the case.

The incident took place on August 14 and came to light on September 16 despite the school authorities knowing about it.

The girl, a student of class X, who lived in the school hostel along with her elder sister, first shared her ordeal with her. The elder sister informed the school authorities who instead of approaching the police allegedly tried to hush it up by threatening to throw the two sisters out of the school if they disclosed it to anyone.

Keeping mum for sometime, the elder sister, however, confided it to a relative who approached the police.

"The CBSE action which is based on a recommendation to this effect by the state government sets a healthy precedent," Education Minister Arvind Pandey said.