Bhubaneswar: The Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) school, a residential institute for tribal students, is under the lens of district administration for not following necessary guidelines to function such a school in the State. The discrepancies came to light after a spot visit by Child Welfare Committee (CWC) of Khurda.
Earlier in June, the CWC had conducted a spot inspection of the school. As per its report the tribal children are not served nutritious food due to which they are suffering from malnutrition. The rooms for students are small and unhealthy; the infrastructure also lacks adequate number of toilets, the report pointed out.
The most important allegation that the CWC has brought is KISS is not registered under ST & SC Development Department and it is also not following guidelines of Women and Child Development Department.
Talking to OTV, CWC member Benudhar Senapati said, "We are issuing a directive to KISS authorities to fulfill the deficiencies within a given timeline. Officials of ST & SC Development Department or Women and Child Development Department should visit the school regularly for inspection."
Khurda CWC Chairperson Bholeswar Panda said, "A six member team, including DCPO and CWC members had visited the school and had met KISS Secretary RN Das and other authorities. We discussed the complaints received against KISS with them."
It has also been alleged that some students have gone missing from the school. Even if the CWC has served notices to KISS authorities to depose on this matter they are defying it.
Presently there are 25,318 students in the school but no one from the ST & SC Development Department or Women and Child Development Department have visited the school once.
Reacting to the allegations, Women and Child Development Minister Prafulla Samal said, "If any such organisation is functioning without adhering to guidelines, it will face retribution. We are also trying to formulate guidelines over it soon. If such a thing comes to our notice, there are procedures the government will take to tackle any sort of irregularities anywhere."
SC and ST Development Minister Ramesh Majhi said, "KISS does not come under the purview of our department, we will take action as per law after the government studies recommendations of the CWC.”
On the other hand the school authorities have reportedly written to Khurda Collector claiming the allegations as false and baseless.