SCPCR chief orders JNV to shift to new campus

SHILLONG: Chairperson of the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, Meena Kharkongor, on Friday informed that acting on complaints from parents whose wards study at the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Mawphlang, and following her visit to the JNV campus on October 5 last, she has passed an order that within 3 months the JNV authorities should shift the students to the new campus failing which she would move the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights against the JNV.
“As a State Commission, we have the power to approach the High Court as well, hence this direction is to be followed,” Kharkongor cautioned authorities of the JNV Mawphlang.
Narrating her experiences on her visit to the JNV campus, Kharkongor said, “The temporary campus in the school is abysmal; the classrooms are sheltered with tin sheds and the boys are housed in the PHCs and the girls in the BDO’s office. Even the kitchen is in a bad condition.”
She further said that the students studying in the school were mostly from poor background.
Kharkongor said she had inspected the new building and had asked the Principal, Vikraman Nair to shift the students to the new building but the Principal expressed his inability as the institution was facing technical difficulties with various departments.
Despite the substandard living conditions, she said that the students still passed out with flying colours, Kharkongor said adding, “As per JNV rules, 80 students are to be enrolled in one academic session but currently it now enrolls only 40 students.”