To, The Rt. Rev. Dr. Prem Prakash Habil Bishop of Diocese of Agra, Bishop's House 4/116 B Church Road, Civil Lines, Agra –282 002 U.P Dear Sir, In view of the drastic loss of reputation that Sherwood College, Nainital has suffered in the recent past and taken aback at the current unrest at the administrative level, I am being constrained to write the instant letter. I spent eleven of the best years of my life at Sherwood (1992-02) which was once considered amongst the premier boarding schools of the country Several unfortunate incidents have taken place in Sherwood over the past few years which have either not been addressed by the Principal and/or matters have been brushed under the carpet. Incidents have either gone unnoticed due to lack of proper policies in place and/or lack of enforcement by the principal/administration. Some of the incidents/situations/facts which ned to be brought to the notice of the Governing Body are given below. I would be happy to share details of further incidents which are not being enumerated herein below only for the sake of brevity. These incidents are backed by personal statements, copies of the FIR's (in some cases) and evidence collected by us. 1. Negligence (a)The infamous tractor incident (April 4, 2010) - when 2 boys died and 25 children were injured whilst riding on a tractor during excursions, which are conducted under the supervision of the Principal / School Staff. It was shocking to hear that tractor trolleys were just to save money on transportation and later one the tractor drivers was found to be drunk. It is with such callousness that the School has treated the lives of children sent under its care. Parents induct their children into Sherwood with atleast the hope that they would be duly taken care of. Every citizen much less a student of Sherwood is entitled to right to life. However, the negligent attitude of the school authorities in this case lead to loss of life of innocent children who probably do not understand the dangers of riding on a trolley which is packed with more than its capacity. I ask myself, was it not the duty of the staff present there to have ensured the safety of the children? It is for these reasons that school authorities are entrusted with the safety of the children. This duty the school owes to the children and their parents. Please note that a Principal is wholly liable for the acts committed or omitted under his watch, guidance, instructions, administration etc. Therefore, it is wholly relevant to point out here that such negligence was amenable to prosecution of the Principal as well as the staff concerned, under Section 304A of the Indian Penal Code, 1860. There have been several incidents in schools across the country where the Principal and the staff have been booked under the aforementioned section. In some cases they have even had to face arrest. Imagine a situation where the Principal of Sherwood is arrested for negligence. Sir, you would be well aware of the reputation loss that the school would have to undergo. Needless to add, the loss of reputation that the school faced in any case. The incident, was probably a lucky escape for the school, the Principal and the staff concerned. (b) Boy dies of double pneumonia- Recently a boy died of pneumonia. It so happened that (i) the sister-in-charge of the infirmary (Payal) barely understood the illness. How would she? She is merely a nurse. In fat the previous Sister in Charge Sister Rozario refused to work alongside her for her lack of knowledge of medicine. This takes me to the next question, shouldn't the school deploy a resident doctor? When are such reforms/measures going to be adopted? As things stand, it seems as if such measures would be taken once several more lives are lost. (b) The parents were not informed for quite some time. The normal understanding would be that the minute the Principal believed that the illness to the young boy was such that he would need medical attention from a good doctor, he should have informed the parents. The boy was turned away by the infirmary as well as the Housemaster. The criticality of his illness was not immediately reported to the single mother. The boy was shifted from a Haldwani hospital to Noida without proper facilities in the ambulance and without the presence of a Doctor which was specifically requested by the mother. Please seek a copy of the complaint of filed by the mother to know the full details of what happened. (c) Students run away- In 2006, just a couple of years after the Principal assumed office, the entire Class 9 of 2006 ran away to Haldwani as they had been beaten up by the then warden Mr. Sultan, at the behest of the principal. Mr.S. Kerr, the then Sr. School Headmaster had to intervene to convince the students to join back. This was not an isolated incident of thrashing that these students had to face, it was the thrashing that had become so regular that they chose to run away home and tell their parents about it directly. Of course shocked at the incident the parents rushed to school only to realize that the entire onus had been put on a Warden and the Principal had shirked his responsibility. This did not stop here, Mr. Sultan was whisked away to one Mr. Atul Sharma's resort in Bhimtal. Thereafter, when the incident went beyond the control of the Principal Mr. Sultan was made to disappear to Coimbatore from where, incidentally, Mr. Sultan had originally followed him to Sherwood. At the point in time, when the students were scared and had run away, any drastic measure on the part of the students could have lead to an untoward incident. Sir, you would be aware of widely reported incidents across the country, where Principals and staff of schools and colleges have had to face prosecution (even arrest in some cases) for physical torture, thrashing, ragging etc. In this case yet another criminal case qua the Principal was avoided only through his dominant position over the children and their parents and his influence over the concerned authorities (which emanated from financial power). 2. Negative publicity and violence (a) All the above incidents were widely reported in the local media including others where a child (Chawla) was thrashed by the College Captain and the parents filed a petition in the High Court which was finally settled out of court and only because the Principal had friends in the judiciary. (b) After the incident of Nov 2006 (stated above) some more reports of the Principal’s violence towards children beating them up and threatening to kill them came to light. In fact, these were also broadcast by some of the national news channels. I believe he was even warned by the then Bishop to stop the violence and to appoint an internal committee to look into matters of indiscipline and punishment. He then appointed the so called Team comprising Mr.Hem Pande, Mr. S.Chatterjee, Mrs. Chaterjee (Dean of Girls) Mr Arvind Sharma. I believe the Head Boy and the Head Girls also had a role to play in this committee. Despite the committee, nothing has changed and incidents of such violence continue. (c)Beating up of a Senior Staff - The case of Mr.S.Chaterjee is one of the many shocking incidents that have come to light. It is believed that the Principal actually deploys personal staff, not officially employed by the school but on the payroll of the school contractor. In effect they are hired for his own protection in case of any trouble. One evening after a staff dinner at the Principal’s house Mr. Chatterjee is said to have made some comments (probably inappropriate too) about the Principal. When Mr. Chatterjee was returning home after the dinner, the personnel referred to above, switched off the electricity mains and, threw a sack over his head and beat him black and blue inside the School compound, at the behest of the Principal. Then they disappeared leaving Mr. Chatterjee severely injured. Mr. Chatterjee knew his time at Sherwood, spanning over 25 years was over and he resigned the same year. He did not file a police report as he did not want to risk losing the dues that Sherwood owed him. Again, he evaded the law. 3. Lack of Professional Qualifications/Experience and Previous History (a) It will only be prudent to first have someone revisit the Principal's professional qualifications. It is believed that he possesses two degrees both of which are not genuine. It is believed that he does not possess a B.Ed., which is a minimum qualification for the post of Principal. It is my suggestion - as in all good Schools, Sherwood too, must post the resume and qualifications of its entire staff on its website. Let the parents know in whose hands have their children been entrusted. Why not start with the Principal. Even the staff employed by the school are bereft of the requisite qualifications.A cursory face to face interaction with most of the staff employed at Sherwood will reveal the quality of teacher’s hired by the Principal. He does so only to maintain his influence over the staff who otherwise could never dream of working at a school like Sherwood. (b)The School from which the Principal arrived in 2004 is a little known School (Monarch International) in Coimbatore which had only 60 students even in 2006 from classes Nursery to 12. Less than 5 students a class. I am not sure what their numbers are now. I believe he was appointed Vice Principal there. His previous stint was at Guru Ravi Das Academy as an English or History teacher. It was interesting to see some of the comments WRITTEN by his students at GRD Academy on the Sherwood page on Wikimapia.org. One startling fact that emerges is his infamous binge drinking problem at GRD. Even today it is common knowledge among Sherwood staff that the Principal stores over 300 bottles of foreign liquor at his official residence. 4. Financial Imropriety (a) Please take a look at the current assets of the Principal in order to ascertain the meteoric rise in his financial status since the year he joined - 2004. Apparently he came to School with only an Enfield motor cycle. He is said to have sold his bungalow outside Dehradun after it attracted so much limelight. However, he is said to have invested some of that money in Goa. He must be asked to explain the source of his funds that allowed him to purchase and build a bungalow in Dehradun worth almost Rs.2.00 crore in 2 years of starting his stint at Sherwood. Apparently he showed this property in his brother's name Mr. Jandeep Singh Sandhu who is a Junior School Teacher at PPS Nabha. He actually had the School contractor and the School's Finance Manager deposit cash in this ICICI Bank Account on many occasions. (b) His finances have been under the scrutiny of the income tax deptt for some years now. He is the first School Principal (other than Mr. C.V. Innes perhaps) known to many to actually have his bank accounts frozen, from which 50% of his salary was recovered by the tax depth to pay outstanding tax dues. He may have had the case muzzled but its interesting to see the various orders passed by the ITO one of which said he lied about owning farmland in Gurdaspur Distt in Punjab to show agricultural income, where there was none. (c) Mr. D. K. Srivastava, Former Finance Manager of the school has apparently gone on record in front of the previous Bishop, to state that he was made to accept funds from parents on behalf of and at the behest of the principal under the garb of admission charges, donations for the school etc. This modus operandi deployed by the Principal just goes to show the shrewd nature of the Principal, who did not want to come to the fore only to avoid untowardly situations. (d)The Principal is widely known to receive illegal gratifications for admissions. He has his broker/s call up parents and tell them that their child cannot be admitted but they can find a way if the parents are willing to spend some money. There is a Old Sherwoodian in Haldwani who is his favourite man for the job currently. On Nov 15 the said broker accompanied him to Noida to help him in the matter of the death of Shaan Prajapathi the boy who passed away en route to Delhi. 5. Attitude, Lack of Discipline (a) He is said to possess guns which he used to carry on his person even within the School Campus at all times. On being asked why, he said he had received threats from some unsocial elements in Nainital / Haldwani. The question that arises is why would he receive threats from local goons. The answer is that he apparently had a money dispute with them regarding admissions. 6. Maladministration (a) The interference of the Principal in Junior School admission tests etc led Ms. Nishi Misra, a very capable Headmistress to resign and leave in 2006. With time it became evident that it was only done to pave the way for his wife to be made Headmistress of Junior School making his control over the admissions process and the School as a whole complete. I think it would be in the best interest of the School, Church, Staff, Parents, Students, Alumni as well as the reputation of the school that it is administered professionally under the aegis of a new Principal and/or a committee so appointed by you / or the Governing Body. In view of the foregoing, to avoid loss of life or reputation I am hereby requesting you to kindly consider the following: (a) Dismiss Mr. Amandeep Sandhu, forthwith, from the office of the Principal; (b) Constitute a committee to enquire into the financial affairs of the Principal (c) Constitute a committee for the appointment of teachers (d) Constitute a Parent Teacher Committee for regular and frequent interaction with the parents I my hopeful my requests made here will be considered fairly and appropriately. I would be happy to personally explain these incidents. In case you and / or the Governing Body requires any assistance from my end, I would be more than happy to provide the same. Yours Sincerely, Date : 17th Nov-14 CC: a. The Most Rt. Rev Dr. Phillip. Marandih Bishop of Patna Diocese & Moderator - Church of North India Synod Bishop’s House, Christ Church Compound Bhagalpur, BIhar - 812001 India Office: +91 (0)641 240 0033 cnipatna@rediffmail.com b. Mr. Alwan Masih General Secretary Church of North India Synod 16, Pandit Pant Marg New Delhi c. All Heads of Schools under the Diocese of Agra d. All Bishops of Diocese under the CNI Synod