Expelled kids framed by school: Parents

Anahita Mukherji | TNN

Mumbai: Hectic mediation efforts were mounted late on Saturday to broker a settlement between Ecole Mondiale World School, Juhu, and the parents of five Class XII students expelled for their alleged role in doctoring marksheets and sending these to foreign universities.

Speaking to this newspaper, the parents of some of the students who were expelled on March 17 claimed that their children were innocent and had been framed by the school. The school has, however, reiterated that it has proof of the students’ complicity.

A report on the students’ expulsion was carried by this paper on Saturday.

A parent whose child was expelled said, “For admissions to foreign varsities, the school has to send the necessary papers directly to the universities, signed by the principal and school counsellor.’’

Inflating grade row: School to let students take exams

Mumbai: Claiming that it is the school that sends documents directly to foreign universities, a parent of a Std XII student expelled by Ecole Mondiale World School for allegedly doctoring marksheets, said, “In this case, the school has made discrepancies in the marksheets of the entire batch of 40 students in Class XII while sending their applications to foreign universities. In order to cover its own tracks, it has victimised our children and attempted to frame them in this case.

“The school is involved in a huge scam and has not shown us any evidence of our children being involved in doctoring marksheets. They have intimidated our children in order to extract information from them. We have filed a police complaint against the school, as well as a suit in the city civil court,’’ added the parent.

“The school has even sent out letters to all 700 parents in the school, asking for their support for the school’s decision to expel our children,’’ the parent said.

The principal, Finbarr O’Regan, however, denied the parents’ allegations. “This is preposterous and absolutely untrue,’’ said O’Regan, adding that he had had a detailed meeting with each of the five parents individually and had shown them proof of their child’s involvement in doctoring marksheets. “I have taken great care to protect these children and have ensured that they finish their IB diploma course. The school will allow them to appear for their IB exams in May as we see no connection between them finishing their exams and what we believe they are involved in,’’ he said.

O’Regan adds that the school sent out an e-mail to all parents in the school over the action taken against the five students as well as the reasons for doing so. “Nowhere have I asked parents for their support. My email says that I expect their support in this situation,’’ he added.