Clean Image Gone! Aparajita Sarangi May Face Trouble

Bhubaneswar (Reporters Today Bureau): Aparajita Sarangi, Member of Parliament and former IAS officer, trapped into a new problem. The Odisha Federation of Parents has lodged a complaint with the Chief Minister alleging violations of the Right to Education Act, which she ordered during her tenure as Mass Education Secretary, and has demanded strict action against her.

According to a complaint lodged by the Odisha Parents Federation, under Section 12 of the Right to Education Act 2009-10, 25% of the seats in all educational institutions are free of cost for students. According to the law, in 2010, under the direction of the Central Human Resource Development Department, all educational institutions will be reserved for 25% of the economically backward parents and 10% for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students as per the rules. If the seat is vacant, only the two seats can be swapped between the two classes. After that, the vacancies were ordered to be vacated throughout the year.

But a few months after the order, a letter from DAV Chandrasekharpur requested for permission to allow general students in seats which were vacant. As the then Secretary of State, Aparajita Sarangi, in her special permission, asked for the admission of general students if the reserved were not available. The parents’ association has questioned who gave the permission to the school for this conduct.

The general public is being harassed for admission to the school. Under the order, all private school management in the state are selling the seat under in the name of quota. For the past 10 years, these seats have been selling illegally. More than Rs 300 crore has been illegally earned by the DAV group alone, but the financially backward and SC, ST students have been deprived of their rights.

Private schools and government officials are embroiled in the scandal, with more than 6,00,000 students deprived of their right to education. The parents’ federation filed a complaint with the State Child Rights Protection Commission last September against the DAV authorities over the scam. However, no action has been taken so far. The Odisha Parents Federation has demanded that the adorable Chief Minister of Odisha to implement the law immediately by giving justice to millions of parents and take immediate action against officials and individuals involved in scandal.