By Debasis Barik
Bhadark: The headmaster of a government high school in the district has allegedly demanded a bribe for initiating the process of rectifying the name of a student in his board certificate.
According to reports, Goleka Chandra Rout, headmaster of Utkalamani Gopabandhu Ucha Vidyapeetha in Narendrapur under Chandbali block of Bhadrak district had asked the father of a student for Rs 1,000 for help in correcting a mistake in the board certificate of his son.
“When I, along with my son, went to the school to meet the headmaster to inform about the mistake and to know how it can be rectified as my son was preparing to go abroad, he (headmaster) asked me to pay Rs 1,000 towards expenditure on the school clerk's visit to the Board office in Cuttack for the purpose” Gokula Chandra Muduli, the father of Sushabhana Muduli (the student) alleged.
“After I refused to pay the money, he, along with his clerk, came to my home asking for the same,” Muduli added.
Speaking about his ordeal, Muduli said, “My son had appeared matriculation examination in 2011 and got the certificate with a mistake in his mother’s name, which was written Ranjita Muduli instead of Pradipta Muduli. After our application for correction, the board had rectified it, but made another mistake in my son’s name which was Sushadhana Muduli in place of Sushabhana Muduli.”
Reacting to the allegations, high school headmaster Goleka Chandra Rout said, “it is a baseless allegation. Neither we had asked for money nor did we go to their home. We only told him that it is a time taking process and you have to wait to get the corrected certificates which he interpreted as a demand for money to do the job.”
The head master also said that the board had already dispatched it to Balasore for printing. "We will get the corrected one by April 12," he said.