Date:16/12/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/12/16/stories/2004121615490300.htm

New Delhi

Spare the school, say children

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, DEC. 15. In a bid to clear the air, students of Delhi Public School R.K. Puram today said that the school should be kept out of the ongoing controversy over sex escapades by two of its students as the incident had not taken place on the school premises.

Terming the incident as "deplorable" in a statement issued to the media, the students claimed that the two students involved are only part of a minuscule percentage of the student community that is otherwise "dynamic, intelligent, motivated, righteous, moral and ethical".

"This unfortunate incident has tested the bonds between teachers, students and parents. We can definitely assure you that the moral conscience of the students was shaken with greater intensity than that of the administration, parents and society in general," they said.

Pointing out that the incident did not take place within the school, the students believe that the media has taken a "fiendish delight" in sensationalising the incident. "It is highly unfair for the image of the school and the students to be degraded for something that takes place beyond the official school timings and outside the school campus, not mentioning the fact that the school definitely feels that it is in association with the parents responsible for the activities and the holistic development of children studying,'' they added.