BHUBANESWAR: The restriction on ‘unauthorised’ entry of media inside school campuses in Odisha has snowballed into a major political outrage with the government defending the move, while opposition BJP and Congress have criticised seeking immediate withdrawal of the order.
The issue flared up after letters from district education officers (DEO) Dhenkanal, Kendrapara and block education officer (BEO) Kankadahad asking schools in their jurisdictions to report to police and lodge FIR against media personnel entering school premises without any permission surfaced.
The letters pointed out that media persons holding cameras enter the schools and ask different questions to students and teachers to ‘humiliate’ them and air those videos unethically on TV and other platforms.
In her letter the Dhenkanal DEO, Nibediata Pani said, “It is noticed that some persons holding cameras are entering schools and asking questions to students and teachers with a view to humiliating them. Some TV channels are also airing these videos. Such activities are not permissible on the school campus. It is unethical.”
The letter also asked BEOs to instruct all headmasters to be vigilant and act accordingly to stop this trend. Contacted, the DEO justified the letter banning the entry of media on school campuses.
Supporting the letter the district Collector Saroj Sethi said it is noticed that the media men holding cameras asked questions to the students, which are humiliating. The letter is in accordance with the government order and the action will be initiated in these schools, he said.
Reacting sharply to the DEO order, senior journalist Pradeep Senapati has described the order as a symbol of ‘Taliban rule’ to hide various loopholes in the system. He said it is an attempt to throttle the voice of the media. He demanded immediate revocation of the order and urged the DEO to set the house in order first.
School and Mass Education Minister Samir Ranjan Das said the department has come to know about such orders at DEO and BEO levels in some places. The Minister blamed a section of media, especially some of the unregistered web channels for the mess. He said though the media has the right to bring issues and problems of the society to the fore, in certain cases, especially at the local level, the role of the media has been more than what is required.
Das said the media persons have only been asked to enter the school premises with prior permission and sought cooperation from everyone in this regard to prevent any disturbance to academics. Opposition BJP and Congress, however, strongly reacted to the issue and demanded the withdrawal of the order with immediate effect.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan expressed his displeasure over the issue and said the restriction on media entry to schools is not appropriate. Pradhan said a school is a public place and restriction of media is not correct. Bhubaneswar MP Aparajita Sarangi said she was surprised to see such an order being issued at DEO and BEO levels.
“The move is extremely unfortunate as it is the duty of the journalists to show whenever there are some irregularities in schools,” Sarangi said. She said during her tenure as education secretary, they had created ‘no punishment zones’ on the campuses and had asked journalists to visit schools and report if there were any violations of the order.
“There shouldn’t be any restriction on journalists from doing their duty as it would hamper the democratic process,” Sarangi added.
Congress leader Suresh Routray also lashed out at the government and alleged this is an act to suppress irregularities and corruption in the State. Routray said this is not the first time that such restriction has been imposed on the journalists, as they had been prevented entry inside Secretariat, State Assembly and SCB Medical College and Hospital earlier.
“Such order on part of the State government is condemnable and should be revoked immediately,” he said.