Ahmedabad , April 21: In a bizarre incident in Surat, south Gujarat, around 120 students between the ages of 10 and 14 were forced to walk barefoot over burning coals and broken glass at a school in an exercise aimed to help them “gain confidence” and overcome fear as part of “personality development”.

“Students aged between 10 and 14 years of Riverdale Academy  (in the upscale Adajan area of Surat) were paraded barefoot on a firebed of coal and glass pieces to help them gain confidence,” an employee of the school told reporters.
According to him, around 120 students went through the painful exercise at a school function early this week. “The parents of these children were also present on the occasion but, unusually, they did not object to this act,” he said of the display described as “a self-confidence building measure for the students”.
Video footage of the event was aired by local TV channels. A school employee claimed that children belonging to the primary section of the school kept crying and that some sustained injuries, adding that their parents kept watching and cheering. The video footage showed a few coal pieces and glass and students walking over them after being taught to tiptoe or jump. The school’s trustees said they had conducted this event “scientifically” and that the parents were present.
Deepal Trivedi
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Tharoor’s site draws 13,000 support hits, including Kofi
Age Correspondent
New Delhi

April 21: Breaking his silence, Shashi Tharoor has posted a message on Twitter thanking his supporters. “Thank you for all the kind words on www.Support-Tharoor.org. Means a great deal that so many have reached out to me at this time of trial,” Mr Tharoor said on Twitter.
It was his first comment in the last five days. His last tweet was on April 16. The online campaign on www.SupportTharoor.org, launched a day before he resigned, had received over 13,000 “pledges” till Wednesday evening.
Among those who wrote a message of support was his onetime UN boss, former Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who asked the people of India to support “good politicians ... like Rahul, Tharoor, Nitish, Omar.” He wrote: “Go support them. I as an ex-UN chief will be deeply obliged.” n More on Page 3