Parents accuse St John's teacher of showing adult sites to students

Thu, Nov 5 06:10 AM

An art teacher of St John's High School has been accused of showing adult sites to students.

In a written complaint submitted to school principal Kavita Das, the parents of a Class VII student, Meeta and T K Goyal and have blamed the teacher, Michael Angelo Francis, of "corrupting the minds of students and bringing a bad name to the teacher-student relationship."

The teacher, in his defence, termed the complaint as 'baseless'.

Denying that he had received any intimation from the school in this regard, Francis said he had never surfed the Internet in the school and it was a ploy to malign his reputation.

The Goyals have alleged that during school hours, the teacher checks pornographic sites on his mobile phone and shows them to students.

"During his class, he calls students in groups and makes them view adult sites. Not only this, he also encourages them to become a member of such sites. The art room that has been allotted to him is a den of corruption," it was alleged.

The complaint also accuses Francis ofencouraging students to bring mobile phones to school and log in to social networking sites like Orkut and Facebook.

"During his class, he spends most of his time either surfing the net or sending messages. We doubt he has ever taught anything constructive to students," the father said.

He cites the same reason for pulling his sons out of the school band.

"My sons were preparing for the school album that is to be released shortly. A month ago, my wife went to see their practice session and she was surprised to see boys huddled near Francis as he let them watch pornographic site on his laptop," claimed Goyal.

He also claimed that some parents had sent a few anonymous complaints against the teacher earlier but no action was taken.

The school, meanwhile, defended the teacher saying the sites he has shown to students "are art sites which may have some nude sculptures".

"For some it is art but others may see it as pornography. The complaint will be forwarded to the school management to see if it merits any action. The course of action will be decided thereafter," said the school spokesperson. Principal Kavita Das, however, refused to comment on the issue, calling it a matter between the school, its students and parents.

Though Home Secretary Ram Niwas refused to comment, Director Public Instructions (Schools) Samwartak Singh said the Education department will take appropriate action as and when the matter is brought to its notice.

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