Minor motherhood in Odisha school; Supt suspended, action sought against HM

Reported by Ranjan Rath
Malkangiri, Mra 15:

The collector of Malkangiri district in Odisha has suspended the hostel superintendent and recommended departmental action against the headmaster of the upgraded government high school in Pechakonda village for their failure to detect and report a case of minor motherhood in the school.

“Hostel superintendent Sabita Rani Sarkar has been suspended and action has been recommended against Headmaster Prashanta Kumar Panda for dereliction of duty,” collector Prashant Kumar Reddy told OST.

While the suspension of school officials has been welcomed, there is disquiet in the area about the inaction of government officials who were fully aware of the matter and yet did not choose to inform higher authorities about it.

The school authorities had informed both district education officer (DEO) Manas Kumar Jena and block education officer (BEO) Binod Singh, but the latter did not report the matter.

Besides, a medical check up was conducted on the underage girl at the Malkangiri district hospital on February 21 in the presence of CDMO Uday Shankar Mishra, who too chose to remain quiet about it.

The absence of even a show cause notice on these three officials has proved once again that it is always those on the lower rung of the chain who are made scapegoats in such cases.

Meanwhile, a three-member team of the CWC, headed by its chairperson Sanjukta Pradhan, today visited Kacheli village and talked to the girl and her parents.