JUVANILE DELIQUENTS

CHENNAI: Whether they've just been involved in making hoax calls or in more serious cases of harassment, juveniles in conflict with the law get blacklisted by educational institutions. Around 50% of juveniles who spend time in observation homes are not readmitted by schools. And experts say that this may kindle hatred of society in the young person's mind. Usually when a juvenile commits an offence, he is sent to an observation home, where a probation officer counsels the child. The officer studies the background of the juvenile and his family, after which a report is submitted. After this, the child continues in the observation home or is asked to do community service. "But when the boy approaches his old school to be readmitted, the school denies permission. They take this tough stance saying they have to consider the reputation of the school," said Vidya Shankar, a former member of the juvenile justice board. She cites the example of a boy who was playing with his friends in East Tambaram. He pushed one of the other children, who fell and broke an arm. The boy was sent to an observation home for a short while, but when he wanted to return to his old school, it refused to take him back. She said that though there was no clause in the Juvenile Justice Act which stated that children had to be readmitted in the same school, it was more about being sensitive to the future of the child. In the case of the boy from East Tambaram, the board wrote a stiff letter to the school asking it to take him back. "The act clearly states that there should be no black mark against the child that would affect his or her future. But when the child returns to school, he/she is not treated well. This might harm him in the future, and he might decide to drop out. And drop outs are usually misutilised by anti-social elements," she said. Government schools comply and re-admit the child after the probation officer speaks to the authorities and the child. But private schools are not always co-operative. Some heads of institutions said such children should be given a fair chance. "Once the juvenile justice board clears the case, it means the child's character would have changed. So they can be taken back. But the school administration should not advertise the child's issue," said principal of Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan Millennium School Sita Umamaheswaran. "Nothing can be done to enforce admission for kids from juvenile homes into private schools. These institutions may be reluctant on grounds of discipline and possible recurrence of previous behaviour. But we can still ask the schools to be more considerate on humane grounds," said minister of school education Thangam Thennarasu. However, "this could be done on a case-to-case basis only. We can do it in government schools effectively and bring the children to regular system

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