A primary school in Unnao, Uttar Pradesh has been closed for a long time. The reason for this is that the school headmistress Alka Singh and all three female teachers had taken leave of 400 days due to an old mutual dispute. The school has been closed for a long time. There was no mid-day meal in the school for 8 months. After several complaints, the administration has now suspended these three teachers.
BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj's adopted village, only 7 children in school
Tikargarhi village falls in Bichhiya block of Unnao, Uttar Pradesh. This village, just 8 kilometers away from the district headquarters, has been adopted by Sakshi Maharaj, BJP's flamboyant MP from Unnao seat. 'Adopting a village' is not a constitutional obligation, but after Prime Minister Modi's call, BJP MPs adopt villages with the claim that they will develop it like a model village.
The head of the village is Nanhi Devi. His brother-in-law Devendra Yadav told Global News Daily in a conversation that there are about 8000 voters in this two-major Gram Sabha. Of these, a population of about 5000 lives around this primary school. The situation is that till a few years ago, 120 children were registered in this school. Apart from these three teachers, there were also two assistant teachers. Both those teachers have also taken transfer. Now the names of only 7 children are written in the school register. The reason for this is the mutual fight between the female teachers of the school.
The population of Tikargarhi Gram Sabha is around 8000, names of only 7 children are written in the register in the government school of the village.
'Fight between teachers over mid-day meals and money transactions': Children stop going to school
Devendra says,
Teachers Alka Singh and Manju Yadav both come from Unnao city and have been teaching in the same school for decades. Both their husbands are also teachers. There is a fight going on between the two for the last several years. Many times it even came to the point of open fighting. The third teacher of the school, Amita Shukla, is in Manju Singh's camp.
According to Devendra, he tried several times to resolve the dispute between the two female teachers, but when no solution was found, he lodged a complaint.
Rajesh Lodhi of the village is a poor farmer. One of his nephews and two nieces went to school. Rajesh says,
There was abuse and fighting between teachers from morning to afternoon. Sometimes regarding preparing mid-day meal and sometimes regarding money transactions. How will studies happen when there is fighting every day? We had to stop our children from going to school. We are poor people, we cannot send our children to private schools. Our children are not studying anywhere now.
Devendra told us that no teacher was coming to the school for a long time. Alka Singh came to school yesterday i.e. on 14th November. Now he has been suspended.
However, former village head Neeraj Singh says that Alka Singh was suffering from cancer, hence she did not come to school.
Devendra says on this,
'The talk about cancer is false. Earlier, Neeraj Singh used to prepare the mid-day meal of the school himself. He earned money from this and shared it with his teachers. After my sister-in-law became the head, we handed over the work of mid-day meals to the teachers. Now there is a fight over this.
We tried to know the side of Alka and Manju Singh by contacting their phone numbers, but both of them did not pick up our calls.
BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj has adopted this village.
Investigation team found 8 month old rotten mid-day meal items
The complaint about mid-day meal not being prepared and teachers being on leave for a long time had reached State Child Protection Commission member Shyampati Tripathi. Then he ordered an investigation. When the team that went to inspect the school opened the locked rooms, they found 8 months old mid-day material in the school. It was completely rotten.
Block Education Officer of Bichhiya Block Sanjay Yadav said,
Investigation revealed that the school education committee, which was held every Wednesday, had not been held for 4 months. Teachers had collectively applied for 400 days of medical and child care leave.
All three teachers suspended, salary stopped, will be sent to other schools
According to the guidelines of the Education Department, a government employee can be given medical leave for a maximum of two years during his entire service. In this too, leave can be taken for a maximum of 6 months i.e. 180 days at a time.
After the investigation by the State Child Protection Commission, Unnao District Magistrate Gaurang Rathi had directed BSA Sangeeta Singh to suspend the three teachers and start a departmental inquiry. After this Alka Singh, Manju Yadav and Amita Shukla have been suspended. The investigation of leave exceeding the limit and other irregularities has been handed over to the Block Education Officer.
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