A five-year-old child from ALP School, Chelembra, who was allegedly denied entry to a school bus due to late fees, has disrupted classes. The State Commission for Protection of Child Rights registered a case against the school authorities and started an investigation.
Assistant Education Officer (AEO), Parappanangadi, has sent a letter to the school principal seeking disciplinary action against the principal who allegedly ordered the bus driver not to let the child board the bus.
School authorities said they would wait a few days before the principal intervened. They said they would decide on the next course of action if the manager did not comply. They said they knew the principal, Sreeja T., was the manager’s wife.
Cicily Joseph, a member of the Commission for the Rights of the Child, said it was a serious offense on the part of the school to refuse a young child to enter the bus and expose him to insult and harm. “We will request a hearing as soon as possible. If a physical hearing is difficult at short notice, we will choose an online hearing,” Ms Joseph said.
The incident that caused outrage occurred on October 13, when the driver allegedly forbade the child to board the school bus on the instructions of the headmistress. The driver allegedly informed the child that he could not board the bus as his mother had not paid the dues of ₹1,000 for two months.
The child felt humiliated, especially when his neighbor-classmate was allowed to board. Whining, the kid got stuck at the bus stop.
An elderly woman who knew the child took him home and his mother was confused.
“I told my child’s class teacher that I will pay the fees in a few days. Still, they treated my child unkindly,” said the mother, a part-time teacher.
She paid the bus fare herself that day. “I will never send my child to that school again,” she said. Her child has since stopped attending classes. “I’m trying to teach him at home,” she said.
“What’s even more painful is that my child is being ridiculed by his friends for not paying his fees,” she said. Her husband, a foreign worker in Abu Dhabi, is due to return home soon after his visa expires.
Although the incident was widely condemned as “inhumane”, surprisingly no political party or student organization came forward in support of the child’s cause.
The mother decided to seek justice and filed complaints with various authorities, including the Education Minister, the Director of General Education, the Child Rights Commission, the police and the local panchayat. Police reportedly asked her to wait and said they would summon her when needed.
Published – 22 Oct 2025 20:55 IST
