Bhubaneswar: Kendrapara District Education Officer Niranjan Behera on Wednesday suspended the headmaster of an upper primary school in Jagatsinghpur district for allegedly stealing rice meant for students’ mid-day meal. The headmaster, Surath Malla, reportedly doctored the attendance registers to pilfer the rice. Malla has also been accused of taking a commission from the vendor supplying school dresses for the school children.
“During the probe, we found that Surath Malla, the headmaster of Banabihari upper primary school in Matagajapur village under Tirtol block, allegedly overstated the attendance of the students to embezzle the noon meal ration,” said Behera.
The school has 158 students and the headmaster illegally mentioned the presence of almost all students every day. He also illegally received Rs 15,000 commission from a school dress supplier, Behera alleged.
Last year, a headmaster from Chandannagar village was suspended for not providing midday meals to students regularly. In 2021, the headmistress of the primary school in Indupur was suspended for allegedly mentioning the presence of 180 students in the school while only 89 students were present and misappropriated the mid-day meal rice, dal and money.
