Hyperactive student puts school in a fix

MUMBAI: One of the city''s premier schools, Bombay Scottish at Mahim, finds itself in the middle a controversy over its handling of a hyperactive junior K.G. student.
While the school has asked the parents of the three-year, 11-month-old boy to seek medical help for his "abnormal" behaviour, the parents maintain that the child is simply over-energetic and needs more creative handling.
The boy, Dileep (not his real name), was admitted to Bombay Scottish''s junior K.G. class on June 13. His father, Rahul Shirodkar, said that when his wife went to pick up Dileep on June 30, she was told that he was behaving abnormally in the class and needed immediate medical attention. School principal D.P.N.
Prasad told TNN that the boy had been disturbing the other students and beating them up in the preceding two weeks. "We therefore asked the parents to take him to a doctor and get back to us with the medical report,"Mr Prasad said. He added that the administration had not asked the parents to withdraw the child from school.
The shocked Shirodkars rushed to child specialists, Dr Manoj and Anjali Bhatawdekar, who examined Dileep and gave their report.
"Our clinical impression shows that he (Dileep) is a child with normal intelligence and overactivity," the report said. They suggested occupational therapy and parental counselling and recommended that Dileep be given many physical constructive activities at home and in school.
But Mr Shirodkar said that the school authorities refused to accept the report when it was submitted to them on June 1, alleging that it was fake. "The K.G. supervisor, Shalini Mehta, told us that our child was mentally retarded and that we should withdraw him from the school and admit him to a special school," he added.
Despite the report from the Bhatawdekars, a teacher told the Shirodkars not to bring the child to school until they had obtained a report from another medical expert. "My son is now scared of going to the school because one of the teachers had threatened to tie him to his chair," said Mr Shirodkar, a Mahim resident who had studied in Bombay Scottish until class IV.
"How can they do this to a small child?" However, the school authorities said Dileep''s parents were "well aware that there is something wrong with him". One school teacher said, "He does not behave like a normal child. His speech is not clear, he jumps on the tables, spits out food and hits other children with a duster. On one occasion, he urinated in three different places."
Mr Shirodkar said his son had attended the Kite prenursery school at Mahim and there had been no complaints about him. "Boys are bound to be full of energy when they are young," he said. "Instead of channelising my son''s energy in a productive activity, they are labelling him as mentally retarded."