BHUBANESWAR: Senior BJP leader and Opposition Chief Whip Mohan Majhi on Tuesday came down heavily on the state government over the transformation of schools under the 5T initiative following the death of three students due to snakebite at a private coaching centre in Nischintapur under Champua block in Keonjhar district.
The coaching centre was reportedly run by a retired teacher. A fact-finding team led by Majhi which visited the institution on Monday informed media persons that around 116 students of different government schools of the block took full-time coaching at the centre.
Majhi said the coaching centre with a residential facility was running illegally for the last 15 years without registration and permission from the School and Mass Education department. “Each student is charged Rs 20,000 per annum by the coaching centre but they appear in the annual examination in their respective schools where they have been enrolled,” he informed.
He said the schools where these students have taken admitted have been lifting ration for them under the mid-day meal scheme from the block office regularly and the same have been misappropriated by the school staff.
“While this has been going on for a long time with active cooperation from block education officer, coordinators of the block resource centre and cluster resource centre, the district administration kept turning a blind eye since these private coaching centres are mostly run by people belonging to the ruling BJD,” he alleged