Following the incident at a private school in Badlapur, where two minor girls were assaulted by a contractual cleaning staff member last month, the Brihanmumbai Principals’ Association has highlighted the lack of full-time support staff, such as peons and cleaning personnel, in private aided schools since 2018.

The association noted that over 4,500 peon and support staff positions remain unfilled across more than 10,000 schools in the state, with many of these roles being temporarily filled by contractual workers. They emphasised that this staffing situation affects student safety, citing that the accused in the Badlapur case was a contractual worker recruited through an agency. In recent years, the government has cited a lack of funds to support full-time non-teaching staff in private aided schools, offering only a monthly provision of Rs 10,000.