Surprise bag checks in Ahmedabad schools following a student’s fatal stabbing uncovered cigarettes, vapes, alcohol, condoms, blades and other alarming items, prompting calls for stronger parental involvement, counselling and discipline.
Ahmedabad schools have launched surprise bag inspections after the fatal stabbing of a student at Seventh-Day Adventist Higher Secondary School, uncovering disturbing items hidden among textbooks and tiffins.
Principals reported finding mobiles, tablets, lighters, cigarettes, vapes, and “in one rare case, alcohol in a water bottle.” More disturbing discoveries included “whiteners, lipsticks, kajal, nail filers, deodorants, oral contraceptives, condoms and even spare clothes and footwear,” as well as blades, paper cutters and chains—with some schools banning scissors and rounders entirely.
Educators stressed that parents must monitor what children bring and avoid sending anything not explicitly requested: “Unless parents get a written notification from the school … they are not supposed to send them.”
School officials favour counselling over punishment to understand the underlying causes of such behaviour, noting that peer pressure, media influence and exposure to violence may be driving students to carry such items.