Villagers of Guhali and Barapada under Binjharpur block in the district have locked the government-run primary schools and are on a dharna in front of the schools for the last five days protesting against the transfer of two teachers, one from each school.
Even though two lady teachers have been recruited to replace the transferred teachers, the villagers backed by students, their guardians and School Managing Committee (SMC) members were sitting on the dharna demanding the transfer orders to be cancelled.
Ananta Kishore Behera, who was transferred from Duryodhan nodal upper primary school in Barapada, has been replaced by Gayatri Jena.
The villagers had appealed to the officials of the Education Department to cancel Behera’s transfer. When there was no response, they resorted to agitation.
“We have locked the school and are on the mass dharna to express our anger against the transfer of our teacher Ananta Kishore Behera. He is a good teacher and has done a lot for development of our school in past couple of years,” said Sumitra Nayak, ward member of the village.
“We were forced to resort to agitation as the authorities concerned did not pay any heed to our repeated requests,” she added.
A similar situation prevails in Baniapal upgraded primary school in Guhali. The government-run school did not function for the second consecutive day on Friday as the agitated locals, students and their guardians refused to open the main door of the school. They are protesting against the transfer of teacher Subash Chandra Nayak. The students insisted that their teacher should continue in the school.
“We have requested the authorities to cancel the transfer of Nayak as he is a good teacher and an asset for the school,” said Kumuduni Das, vice-chairperson of SMC.
When contacted, Jajpur Collector Anil Kumar Samal, who was initially unaware about the agitation said, “I am trying to solve the problem.”
Meanwhile, President of Zilla Parishad Sushant Mishra said steps would be taken to consider the demands of the students and their parents.