A Faridabad family has alleged that their 11-year-old son was denied entry into school after they moved their Class 10 daughter to another institution over a subject choice dispute. The father’s LinkedIn post has since gone viral, triggering outrage and questions around abuse of authority and child rights. Times Now Digital reached out to him for details.

Recounting the incident, Atul Gupta, a Faridabad resident, said that while his family was celebrating his daughter’s CBSE Class 10 result where she scored 89 per cent on April 16, the very next morning brought an incident that left his younger child 'confused, humiliated, and shattered.' “One moment I won’t forget is watching my 11-year-old son walk back home alone, eyes swollen with tears, his school bag still on his shoulders having been denied entry for no fault of his,” Gupta told Times Now Digital.

According to Gupta, the situation began with his daughter’s subject choice after Class 10. A student of the same school since her early years, she had initially considered Biology but later decided to pursue Science with Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics (PCM). However, Gupta alleges that the school was unwilling to offer her the Science stream and instead insisted that she opt for Commerce. He claims that the school conducts internal assessment tests to determine stream eligibility and that his daughter was first told she would need to score 100 to qualify for Science, a benchmark that was later increased to 120. “Repeatedly, we were called in and counselled to accept Commerce. It didn’t seem like a suggestion but pressure,” he said.

Clear that they wanted their daughter to have a say in her academic future, the family decided to move her to another school that, according to Gupta, was willing to accommodate her subject choice. “We believed that was the end of the matter,” he said.

However, the following morning, Gupta’s younger son who studies in the same school was allegedly stopped from boarding the school bus. “The conductor told him in front of other children that he had been instructed not to pick him up. There was no explanation, no prior notice,” Gupta alleged. The child returned home in tears, unable to understand why he had been denied entry to a school he had attended regularly since pre-nursery.

Younger son was denied entry to his school

Gupta says he immediately went to the school to seek clarity. According to him, the response he received from the administration suggested that the action was linked to the family’s earlier decision. “In that moment, it became clear to me that my son was being punished for something that had nothing to do with him,” he said.

He further alleges that the timing of the incident, a day after his daughter’s board results made it feel deliberate. “The day we celebrated her performance, my son was denied his right to attend school,” he said.

Calling it a serious breach of trust, Gupta has raised concerns over whether such actions violate protections under the Right to Education Act, which is intended to safeguard children from arbitrary exclusion and ensure access to schooling. While the specifics of the case would require formal review, legal experts note that denial of schooling without due process can raise serious concerns under the law.

Gupta also claimed that after he shared his experience on social media, several parents and teachers reached out to him with allegations of similar experiences involving the school’s administration. These include claims of students being denied academic opportunities under contentious circumstances. However, these accounts could not be independently verified.

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