The tragic death of Ngurang Paro, a student of Class 6 at VKV Sher in Kimin has sent waves of anxiety and fear all across Arunachal Pradesh. Such has been the depth of heinousness of the affair, national press which is currently extremely busy reporting the corona mayhem has given adequate space and time to the incident. Very naturally, there is a public outcry demanding strict punishment of those responsible. But above all deliberations, the question that is being raised which will be too difficult to supress is, why such an incident should happen in the state and that too in an institution which had already earned the notoriety over affairs of similar sorts. And since it has happened in this particular institution, there lies no point in establishing it as an isolated occurring and it’s a clear instance of utter and prolonged negligence that has seen the worst manifestation. If ‘discipline’ is the watchword for an educational establishment, it must be said that VKV Sher has totally failed on this count.
So far as media reports that had arrived, it suggest that before the purported self-hanging, the boy had been subjected to a phase of severe torture which is clear from the visible marks all over his body and face.There are also suggestions that given the school’s reported notorious history of ragging and bullying meted out frequently by the seniors to the juniors, it’s quite possible that there might be such history in this case too, which a detailed investigation will reveal. Psychologists and sociologists may take broad-contextual views to arrive at a conclusion regarding what drove these little kids to embrace violence so easily. Exposure to visuals through  films, WWE Wrestling shows on TVs, cartoons and of all sorts will be cited as ‘primary influencers’. This is true to a good extent and can’t be discounted. But, coming to this particular case which is really unprecedented, the arc of allegations will fall on school authorities. It was only six months back in September 2019 it became a talk of entire Arunachal when a chain of some extremely notorious and obnoxious activities which reportedly had been continuing were exposed. No lessons had been learnt from that episode and the price had been paid by Ngurang Paro. Had the school authorities taken a tough stand to weed out the culture of violence practiced by a certain section of students, the sad episode might have been avoided.
It is the boy’s father who perhaps had said what is going on in the minds of all the parents in state. It’s time to wake up and make sure such heart-wrenching incidents do no repeat. All schools, particularly those having hostels, parents, students and society as a whole must play their respective roles.  

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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