Post News Network
Baripada, Dec 22: At a time when the Mayurbhanj district administration is striving hard to enroll and retain all children in the six to 14 year age bracket in schools under its ambitious “Mu Bi Padhibi” campaign, a few students of a primary school at the foothills of Similipal sanctuary were found collecting food left over by tourists and picking up disposables like polythene bags and plastic water bottles Saturday.
Six students of Gobindchandrapur primary school at Lulung Gate at the foothills were found roaming at Sitakund and collecting the leftover items.
When questioned, they said three of them were students of Class-III while two others were in Class-II and one in Class-I. The students, however, failed to name their school. This correspondent visited the school and enquired about their enrollment.
Headmaster Susil Kumar Mohanta was found without uniform sitting long the road. Mohanta admitted that the children were the students of this school but they were playing outside.
The school was found empty at that time with the attendance register remaining blank till 3 pm. Mohanta claimed that the students after having their lunch go out to play and do not come back to school. He said the school has a strength of 50 students and is managed by him and a Sikshya Sahayak.
Locals claimed that Mohanta has managed to cling to the post despite being a para-teacher due to his alleged nexus with the department higher-ups. They accused Mohanta of swindling money sanctioned to the school under the mid-day meal programme by inflating the number of students to 40-45 whereas only 10-15 students attend the school regularly. A guardian on condition of anonymity said the villagers never dared to complain against the headmaster as it leads to the exclusion of their wards from the MDM programme.
According to reports, the district administration in collaboration with the Sarva Sikshya Abhiyan launched a special project ‘Mu Bi Padhibi’ April 1, 2013. A door-to-door survey was conducted and children not attending schools were identified.
Besides, many child labourers and rag-pickers within the age group of six to 14 were also identified and admitted to various residential schools, Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas, special residential training centres and special schools in the district. The programme was specially monitored by collector Rajesh Prabhakar Patil and district project coordinator of the district primary education project authority Diganta Routray.
The programme earned high praise from various quarters. A documentary titled ‘Mu Bi Padhibi’ was unveiled by former chief secretary Gokul Chandra Pati at the secretariat November 28. The collector and Routray even announced that the district has become ‘out-of-school-children free’.
Routray said a probe would be conducted into the matter and action will be taken accordingly. PNN