Indian-origin billionaire parents Radhika and Pankaj Oswal have alleged that their daughter, a student of the Institut Le Rosey (estsb. 1880), one of the oldest boarding schools in Switzerland, was subjected to bullying and harassment by classmates. Rosey is the world’s most expensive private school in the world charging an annual tuition of $115,000 (basic fees plus costs). The parents accuse the elitist school of failing to protect their daughter from bullying which ultimately led to serious cyber harassment of the young teen. The couple claim their daughter suffered from anxiety attacks and insomnia as a result of the alleged bullying.
Sited next to scenic Lake Geneva, Le Rosey is the alma mater of the rich and famous, including generations of the Rothschilds and Rockefellers as well as billionaire shipping tycoon Stavros Niarchos’ and Hollywood star Elizabeth Taylor’s children and Sean Lennon, son of music legend John Lennon. Pankaj Oswal claims the school has become a “playground for rich students to do as they please’ and that it failed to protect his daughter from being “mocked and taunted”.
Radhika Oswal, mother of the aggrieved student says: “We are disappointed and appalled at the treatment that has been given to our daughter by an institute, and the faculty that has failed miserably to uphold its own code of conduct. The values that the institute ostensibly imparts pertaining to ‘respect’ and ‘physical integrity’ as well as for the ‘religious, philosophical and political convictions’ of students, have been made a mockery of, and are at this point nothing but marketing whitewash!.”
According to the Oswals, following several bullying incidents against their daughter, they raised their concerns with the school’s senior management who “showed no willingness to act or even acknowledge that there was an issue while the bullying meanwhile escalated into systematic harassment and cyber bullying”. Subsequently Le Rosey cancelled the bullied student’s re-enrolment for the following academic year.
Adds Radhika: “It is unfortunate that we have heard of other Indian students being taunted for their ethnicity, shockingly even by a member of the faculty. It is sadder that many Indian parents continue the education of their children in this school, despite their children being told disrespectful and racist remarks such as that India is the dustbin of Asia, and that Indian parents look like sweepers. It is shocking when children are taunted and made fun of multiple times on their decision to be vegetarian, their culture and their religious beliefs, but even sadder when parents do not take action”.
The Oswals also allege that underage drinking and smoking is reportedly prevalent in the school and that “there first-hand reports that unruly students can frequently be seen at clubs outside and bars around Institut Le Rosey during term time, spending lavishly on expensive drinks”.
Following a failure to reach an agreement in a conciliation hearing, the Oswals have taken Le Rosey to court and want a public apology for their daughter and a promise that the school will now start to live up to its own – supposedly high – standards.
Posted in International
