UP: 4-yr-old held hostage over late payment of school fee

Lucknow: A four-year-old student was held hostage for hours at his school in Bulandshahr district in Uttar Pradesh, allegedly because his parents had missed the deadline for paying the fee.

The owner and the principal of the school have gone missing after the parents accused them of illegally confining their child.

According to reports, the incident took place on Friday when Abhay Solanki , a nursery student in the Ashok Public and Senior Secondary School, was held back in his classroom for over four hours after everyone had left. When the boy did not return home on time, his parents frantically searched for him and discovered that the child had been detained in school as punishment.

School officials, reportedly, admitted that they had kept back the boy and thought they would release him only after his parents paid the fees.P.K. Tiwari, circle officer, said, “The child was held hostage at the school after school for hours because his father had not paid the tuition fees. The school was waiting for the parents to come to take the child back and they had planned to release the child only after the fees was paid. We will not spare anyone in the case”.

The parents claim that they had informed the school authorities of some financial difficulties and had assured that the fees would be paid at the earliest.

This case assumes significance since it comes close on the heels of a child’s murder in a reputed public school in Haryana and raises serious questions about the safety and security of small children.