In the past couple of weeks, Meena Kumari, a principal at a local elementary school in the village of Gandaman, and her husband, Arjun Rai, were arrested on the charge of murder. Kumari and her husband were charged with poisoning the food at Kumari’s school, which subsequently led to the death of 23 children out of the 52 children attending the school. Kumari and her husband tried to escape, but officials found the couple who were sent to jail. Reports have stated that on the day the children became sick, Kumari had given the cooks at the school oil to use for the meal. The oil contained an insecticide, which is what caused the children to fall sick and caused many of them to die. The insecticide in the oil was the same insecticide that Kumari’s husband sold to farmers. Kumari became angry at children who complained that the food tasted or smelled abnormal and told the children to eat the meal. The school has been shut down for more than three months since the deaths of the children and many parents will not send their children back to the school after it opens again. The safety of children in schools has been a reoccurring problem in India. Similar occurrences of food poisoning and other health concerns have been documented across India in other schools as well.
1. How are the poor conditions in schools that children across India are subject to violations of human rights? Which specific human rights are being violated?
2. Looking at the bigger picture, who do you think is to blame
for the unhealthy and unsafe conditions in many schools across India? What type
of justice is involved?
The fact that this has happened and such events are reoccurring throughout India is truly alarming. In the unfortunate death of these innocent children, one of the most basic human rights is violated: the right to life. Indirectly, the right to educated is also being violated, as these children are also being robbed of a safe and helpful educational environment.
ReplyDeleteWhen trying to discern who is truly at fault here, it seems clear that although teachers such as this article's Meena Kumari are directly involved, we must also consider who is hiring the teachers and running the educational system. The type of justice needed here is distributive justice, as the community has not fulfilled its responsibilities to care for the individuals in society. In this case, the educational system and the teachers involved have not produced educational and/or safe schools for young students. Therefore, necessary service of education has not properly been distributed.
I find events like this, senseless deaths of innocent children, extremely disturbing and appalling. Two human rights outlined in the UDHR are violated here. First is Article 3, which states, "Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person." Children's lives are being taken away; their basic right to life is taken away. Also, Article 26, which states that everyone has the right to education, is violated. After an event like this, parents all around are fearful of sending their kids to school, so they are not receiving a proper education.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Sebastian that the type of justice involved is distributive justice. This is not an individual to individual problem - the Indian government and school officials are to blame. This is an issue that involves people higher up who are not working to ensure the rights of individuals. Stricter laws and punishments must be set in place by people in power to create a safe educational environment for schools in India.