Bachpan School Sealed For Toddler’s Death In Water Sump 

Hyderabad: In an exemplary action by the government, Bachpan Play School at RK Nagar in Malkajgiri was sealed on Thursday for its negligence in providing safety to students on its premises.

On Tuesday, two-and-a-half-year-old Nama Shiva Rachith was found to have drowned in the underground water sump located within the school’s premises. The incident exposes the lapses in safety and security of tiny kids at nursery and play schools in the city.

Shockingly, there was no one to oversee the children while playing in the school ground. After the kid slipped into the sump and died, no one was aware of the tragedy until Shiva’s mother Vishala went to pick him up from the school.

“When I asked them to send my child out, they said he had not come to the school. My husband, I and his friends searched the premises and found my child drowned in the sump,” Vishala explained the pathetic condition of the school management.

Police said the school management was negligent in leaving the sump open when filling water. A case of death due to negligence has been booked against the school management.

Shiva Rachith was the younger son of Anil Kumar and Vishala, residing in RK Nagar. Bachpan’s nursery school is just 400 metres from his home.

On the fatefull day, Anil dropped his son at the school gate and waited till he had entered the building, just as he does every day. But he never knew it was his son's last day in this world.

CCTV Footage Exposes Lapses

Around 11.25am, Vishala came to pick him up. The school insisted he had not come on that day. Vishala called her husband who came with some of his friends but they were stopped from entering the school.

After an argument with the school staff, they all entered the school and started searching. They found Shiva’s school bag in the classroom and showed it to the staff.

“That is when they allowed us to search the campus and someone checked the sump and found my child floating in the sump that was full of water. Till my husband’s friends came to the school, the staff did not allow me even to talk and spoke rudely to me,” Vishala told mediapersons later.

It was found that the sump is usually closed, but when the water is released it is kept open. Inspector Janaki Reddy said the investigation report was submitted to the government and the school was seized by the education department based on the report.