The students of Government Panabeda High School under Chandahandi block in Nabarangpur district were allegedly charged Rs 100 each to get their admit cards for the Matriculation examination.
A purported video clip of the students paying Rs 100 each to collect their admit cards in the school has gone viral over various social media platforms.
As per reports, a teacher of the school allegedly charged Rs 100 to each student to get their admit cards. Though, as per the provision, nothing is charged for admit cards, the students were allegedly forced to pay the amount.
“One of our teachers asked us to pay Rs 100 for issuing admit cards. Subsequently, all the students paid the amount while collecting the cards,” alleged a student.
Local residents have expressed their resentment over the development and demanded stern action against the concerned teacher.
“We strongly condemn the incident. We demand stern action against the concerned teacher who asked money from the students to issue the admit cards,” said Akalu Jali, a local resident.
However, the headmaster of the school Saroj Kumar Majhi feigned his ignorance over the development.
“I have no idea about the incident. No teacher has been asked to demand money from the students for issuing admit cards. I just came to know about the allegation. The teacher might have asked for money from the students to take photographs during a feast. We will start an inquiry into the allegation and proper action will be taken after that,” said Majhi.
In his response over the allegation, Block Education Officer Subhendu Kumar Mandal said, “There has been no provision to ask for money for issuing admit cards. I don’t know about the exact development. After having an inquiry into the incident, the exact truth could be revealed. Then, proper action will be taken against the erring persons.”