Students lock up school as they find headmaster drunk in Odisha’s Jajpur
In July, a video of the headmaster sleeping on the carton of a liquor company in a drunken state had surfaced
By Our Correspondent
Bhubaneswar, Sept. 25: Students of Ratnagiri High School at Ratnagari in Odisha’s Jajpur district on Friday locked up the school gate after a video of the headmaster napping in an inebriated state went viral on social media platforms.
After locking the school entrance, the students also demanded that the headmaster be replaced.
Sources said the headmaster Prakash Mallik used to remain absent without informing higher authorities and often came to school drunk.
After students and guardians complained and brought this to the notice of the district education officer (DEO), an inquiry was initiated and additional district education officer (ADEO) Rajesh Swain along with block education officer (BEO) Sudarshan Mallik visited the school in March this year. However, even after six months, no action has yet been initiated against the headmaster.
In July, a video of the headmaster sleeping on the carton of a liquor company in a drunken state had surfaced fuelling resentment among locals about the state of affairs in the school.
Three days ago, another video of the headmaster sleeping in an inebriated state during class hours made rounds on social media. A guardian was seen in the video counselling him to refrain from such inappropriate conduct. The clip led to considerable outrage among parents and students with the latter resorting to locking up the school gate as a mark of protest.
“The teacher regularly comes to school drunk. He never pays to our repeated requests to desist from his bad habit. How can we allow such an immoral teacher to hold classes here?” the agitating guardians said.
On getting information, cluster resource centre coordinator Tarakant Mallik reached the spot and brought the situation under control after pacifying the students.
The headmaster Mallik was unavailable to give any clarification on this matter.
