Gurukul lands Isha Centre in fresh row

Speaking to the media on Friday, T Jayanthi Rani, member of the TNSCPCR, said they received complaints from National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) that the institution is operating illegally. “We summoned the Isha Foundation to present the data pertaining to the number of children in the institution and provide the registration documents. The Foundation has not responded to our summons. 

According to the District Chief Education Officer and the District Child Protection Officer, the Foundation is not authorised to run this school, either as a home for children or an educational centre. They have no approvals from the Education department,” said the advocate. An inspection by TNSCPCR officials also revealed that no formal education is being imparted to the children. 

“Based on the complaints, we inspected the school in June 2016 and interacted with a few children. They said they were taught kalaripayattu, yoga, Vedas and Sanskrit. They said they had no access to Math or Science,” she added. The administrative official of Isha Foundation, who was summoned, failed to appear before the Commission on August 19. 

“Instead, two volunteers, named Rama Prabha and Thyagu, gave us a profile of the institution but did not provide the data or the documents that we had asked for,” said Jayanthi. She added that the commission will conduct a probe and send its findings to the respective government department to act against Isha Foundation for violation of child rights. Isha Samskriti currently has 153 children (64 males and 89 females) between the ages of 6 to 18, living in the gurukul. Efforts to reach the Foundation failed.