11-year-old dies on school roof in Ballia; headmaster, teacher, shiksha mitra arrested

An 11-year-old boy died after coming into contact with a high-tension wire on the roof of a government primary school in Uttar Pradesh's Ballia district, where a teacher had sent him to pluck a bottle gourd for the mid-day meal. 

The school's in-charge headmaster and an assistant teacher have been suspended, and police have arrested them along with a shiksha mitra.

The incident took place on Monday at around 9 am at the primary school in Kanaila village, under Garwar police station limits. Police said Arshad Ahmed, a Class 4 student, was sent up to the roof by a teacher to pick the gourd for the mid-day meal scheme. 

He touched the high-tension wire there and died.

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Angry villagers gathered at the school and protested after the incident. Officials from the district administration, the basic education department and the electricity department reached the spot, listened to the family and assured them of action, which calmed the situation. 

The boy's body was sent for postmortem.

Station in-charge Hitesh Kumar said a case was registered on a complaint by the boy's brother, Salman. It names the school's in-charge headmaster, an assistant teacher, a shiksha mitra and a junior engineer of the electricity department.

District Basic Education Officer Manish Kumar Singh said on Tuesday that in-charge headmaster Vijay Shankar and assistant teacher Anil Kumar were suspended late on Monday night. 

The charges cited were lax working, indifference to their responsibilities and arbitrary conduct.

Action has also begun to end the services of shiksha mitra Deep Chandra Ram, and the chairman and secretary of the village education committee have been told to send a proposal for this within three days.

Superintendent of Police Eran Raja said the headmaster, the assistant teacher and the shiksha mitra were arrested on Tuesday.

Preliminary reports suggest that the school kitchen stands about six feet from the main building, with a high-tension line running close by. Officials have not yet said what further steps will be taken against the electricity department.