Karnataka news: Third incident of students cleaning toilet surfaces, minister's assurances go in vain

livemint.com:

PTI. The video showed some students of the government school cleaning and scrubbing toilets, which led to protest from parents. In December, this is the third such incident in the state.

The latest incident took place on Saturday at a government-run school in Bhadravati taluk of Shivamogga district where students of Class 6 were allegedly asked to clean toilets, PTI reported citing officials. When the senior officials of the Karnataka education department confronted the headmaster, he told them that the students were only asked to pour water and not to clean the toilets, it added. “On Wednesday, I received a 10-second video on Whatsapp in which students were seen cleaning toilets.

I immediately instructed the officials concerned to visit the school and conduct a detailed inquiry," a senior education department officer was quoted as saying by PTI. “The Block Education Officer has submitted a report, based on which I have initiated disciplinary action against the headmaster of the school. This is unacceptable and so, we have suspended Headmaster Shankarappa in connection with the incident in the school last week." Earlier this month, an incident was reported from Bengaluru where students of a state government school were allegedly asked to clean toilets.

Following the viral video of the incident, the education department had suspended the headmistress of the school. After the incident came to light, Karnataka primary and secondary education minister Madhu Bangarappa had condemned it and termed it “shocking" and “deplorable". He had also instructed the education department to ensure that such incidents don't take place again.