Cruelty to children!

A news report, along with a photograph of standing and tired children, was published on the back page of an English daily on May 3. It was a shameless and disgusting example of cruelty to innocent children. The decision of the school authorities to keep the children standing under the blazing sun for five hours to welcome a visiting minister, whose arrival was inadvertently delayed, was a thoughtless and a very stupid idea, violating official orders to the contrary! Why the local government officials present there did not intervene and prevent the school management from acting so cruelly and thoughtlessly? Such crude 'oiling' of visiting dignitaries and other VIPs should stop forthwith. I would request the minister concerned to take up the matter seriously with the local administration and see that the school administration is taken to task for such an act of wanton cruelty on their young students. This gross cruel action cannot just be ignored, and the authorities should be taught a lesson for this, to set an example for other sycophants! S A Mansoor Dhaka