Berhampur: Villagers continued to lock up the three govt-run primary schools in Gangabad, a panchayat located on the Odisha-Andhra Pradesh border in Gajapati district, for the second day on Tuesday to protest against teachers not attending the schools regularly. Some youths from the village, however, conducted classes in a community hall and restricted teachers from entering the schools.
The villagers locked up schools at Manikapatna, Champapur, and Sagadia, where 31, 26, and 16 students, respectively, are studying from Class 1 to V. “Despite repeated warnings, the teachers continued to attend classes irregularly. As a result, the standard of students is very poor. None won a scholarship,” said Hadibandhu Karjee, sarpanch-cum-member of the school management committee.
“When questioned about the pitiable standard of students, the teachers tried to assault villagers, who had locked the school, by engaging two youths from Andhra Pradesh. They also damaged school property,” said Karjee. Following this several youths from the village allegedly locked up all three schools by vacating the students and teachers.
“We have asked the block education officer (BEO), Rayagada to probe the incident,” said Mayadhar Sahoo, district education officer (DEO) of Gajapati district. “I have also instructed BEO to lodge an FIR against people involved in damaging school properties and obstructing teachers from discharging their duties,” he added.
The DEO, however, refuted the allegation of the sarpanch of teachers being irregular. “An inquiry revealed that the teachers were attending schools regularly and there was no shortage of teachers in these schools as per the student-teacher ratio,” he added. “We are keeping a strict vigil on the situation. No case was registered as police have not received any complaints,” said a senior police officer.