Bhopal: Media reports and online videos of students taking extreme risk to go to school prompted the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to flag the issue and issue a notice to the Madhya Pradesh government.
Boys and girls with schoolbags are seen jumping from dam pillars over the Betwa river in Vidisha’s district.
A media report claimed the students were using the risky but short route as it cut the distance from 13 km to 1.5 km.
Madhya Pradesh: In Vidisha district, schoolchildren undertake a dangerous journey every day, hopping across the concrete pillars of a stop dam on the Betwa River to attend classes. @ChouhanShivraj @narendramodi pic.twitter.com/sbSuD1Sl3m
— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) August 4, 2026
Taking suo motu cognizance of the matter, the Commission said if the contents of the report were true, it amounted to serious issues of human rights violation.
A notice has been sent to the Madhya Pradesh chief secretary seeking a detailed report on the issue within two weeks.
The NHRC said in a statement that the media report described “school students risking their lives by hopping on check dam pillars to cross the Betwa river to reach school in Vidisha district”.
The human rights body noted that Article 21A of the Constitution guarantees free and compulsory education to children aged 6 to 14, while the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 makes education a right for every child in that age group.
The NHRC also pointed to the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Avinash Mehrotra vs Union of India case of 2009, which said the right to education includes the right to a safe school and safe infrastructure.
Absence of a safe mode of transport for children to reach school “amounts to a negation of their fundamental right to education with dignity,” it said.
NHRC referred to a viral video showing children hopping across wide gaps in exposed check dam pillars after the report was carried on August 4.
Villagers had reportedly expressed their inability to drop their children at a faraway school because they had to work in the fields, leaving them with the choice of either stopping the children from going to school or allowing them to continue using the risky route, the commission said.
The NHRC also cited reports that one female student failed her final exam after failing to cross the pillars due to her short height. The district education officer had visited the spot and informed the district collector about the issue, but the administration is yet to give any timeline for building a safe passage across the river.