Berhampur: The district administration closed down Modern Oxford Public School here in Ganjam district for flouting various norms. The school will remain closed till further order in this regard, the administration stated in a notice pasted on the school wall.
On the orders of the district collector (DM), Sub-Collector Digant Kumar Routray and Kukudakhandi tehsildar Subash Chandra Rout Friday visited the school and shut down the institution.
Neither, the permission from Berhampur Development Authority (BDA) and National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) was taken for the construction of the building, the officials said. This apart, the institution had been running with no permission from the education department.
According to information available, the district education office issued a show cause notice to Modern Oxford Public School January 3, stating that the information furnished by the institution to the education department was confusing.
The information gathered from the BDA says no permission was sought for getting the educational institution’s building constructed. In this regard, a petition under Odisha Development Authority (ODA)-1982 was registered in 2018. The school authority did not show any promptness to avail permission from BDA. Similarly, the school was also found violating section-26 of NHAI. The school’s road directly touches a National Highway, posing threat to lives of the students.
For the school violating Right Education Act-2009, its license has been withdrawn. The school was asked to come with satisfactory answer within seven days. However, the school authorities did not bother to reply to the notice.
The district education office also had asked the school authorities to shift the school to a proper place as per Right to Education Act-2009. While the school authority was asked January 3 to answer within seven days after receiving the show cause notice, one day later, i.e. January 4 the school was closed down.
The notice pasted on the school wall by the Sub Collector reads that the school has been closed down according to Odisha Development Authority Act-1982. The school will remain closed till further order, the notice read.
When contacted, Sub Collector Digant Kumar Routray said, the district administration had closed down the educational institution.
Trustee of the school Ashok Kumar Pal said that there are many such buildings in Berhampur town that have no permission from BDA. We will decide our future steps after holding a discussion with the Collector.
However, the closure of the school has left the students and parents as well in darkness. They are in a quandary as to what would be the fate of the school and their education. Some believe a mischievous hand behind the closure of the school because while seven days were given to reply to a show cause notice, the administration did close down the school just one day after issuing the show cause notice.
PNN
