Silvester D'Souza

Daijiworld Media Network - Kundapur (SP)

Kundapur, Aug 10: At a time when transfer of additional teacher has created tense situation in all the schools of the coast since the last two weeks, the government higher primary school at Padukone within Nada gram panchayat in the taluk is in the news for wrong reasons. Reports say that the headmaster of the school has hatched a well-planned conspiracy to bring gross disrepute to the school since a week.

While the teachers of the school have been mentally harassed, the block education officer and district deputy director of public instruction have been owning a discreet silence over the issue. In the meanwhile, under the direction of the headmaster, a fake complaint has been created against the president of school development and monitoring committee (SDMC), signed by the headmaster and six teachers of the school. At the request of Dr B R Ambedkar Rural Development and Training Society, Kalavar in the taluk, deputy superintendent of police has since got cases registered against the seven teachers under the provisions of Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

A person named Diwakar Poojary, who came on deputation to Padukone higher primary school from another school, was made the headmaster of the school, although legally this is not permissible. This has given rise to various problems, it is said. Just because SDMC president, Raghavendra Navada, raised his voice against the irregularities with which the headmaster and president of Old Students Association were involved, a complaint was created to force Navada to resign from his post. It is said that by using the letterhead of the school, Diwakar Poojary created fake complaint in which Raghavendra Navada was accused of passing derogatory remarks in the school against the dalits and that Dr B R Ambedkar was insulted by him by using obscene language. The complaint was sent to various people including a local dalit organization, gram panchayat, and minister. When the issue reached the police station, both sides were summoned, after which the head teacher signed a confession, duly agreeing that he was the creator of this fake complaint, said Raghavendra Navada.

Secretary of Dr B R Ambedkar Rural Development and Training Society, Kalavar, Mohanchandra, based on this incident, wrote letters to the school teachers who signed the complaint and SDMC president, objecting to their use of dalit plank for furthering their individual interests. He had given a week's time for them to reply. As the teachers remained silent, he had requested the DySP here to register dalit atrocities case against seven teachers including the headmaster who signed the complaint.

DySP, Praveen Nayak, asked Gangolli police to register the case. As per the directions, a case against seven teachers of the government school was registered under section 3 (1)(U) at Gangolli station against seven teachers.