UMERKOTE: In a shocking incident, the management of a government school allegedly suppressed the critical health status of a Class VII hostel boarder who had sustained grievous injuries in a pressure cooker blast more than a week ago, reports Prasanta Kumar Sahu
The authorities neither took the student, 12-year-old Dhaneswar Behera, to the hospital nor provided any sort of medical aid. He had sustained burn injuries on his face, neck and chest.
The incident took place at Government upgraded upper primary school at K Semla under Kosagumuda block in Nabarangpur district. What was appalling is that the incident occurred on November 20, but the school authorities reportedly did not inform the matter to anyone.
It was only after BJD leader and former MP Pradeep Majhi came to know about it on Friday night that he reached the school hostel, rescued Behera and took him to the district collector, from where he was rushed to the district headquarter hospital.
Taking strong view of the incident, the district administration on Saturday placed school headmaster Kangali Charan Sethi, assistant teacher-cum-hostel-in-charge Kapil Sarabhu and the cook Damburu Bhatra under suspension.
Preliminary investigation revealed that on the night of the incident, the hostel cook had fallen asleep in an alleged inebriated condition, forcing the hostel boarders to prepare a meal for themselves. The students were reportedly preparing dal when the pressure cooker burst, leaving Behera with critical burn injuries.
The school authorities, however, did not bother to inform the matter to the boy’s family or anyone else, nor did they provide him any treatment. When Majhi reached the school after learning about the incident, he found no one around at the hostel following which he jumped over the wall and rescued Behera, who was still in a critical condition.
Behera was then taken to collector Maheswar Swain’s office. Eventually, district education officer Chatrapati Sahu and district welfare officer (DWO) Palka Ravindra were called in, and the boy was rushed to the DHH. He is currently undergoing treatment. His condition, however, is still critical.
Contacted, Majhi expressed shock and anger over the fact that the incident took place over a week back but the district administration was unaware about it.
“This apart, no one was present at the hostel when I reached there even though several children stay at the facility. Secondly, the boy was not taken to the hospital nor a doctor consulted with though he has sustained grievous injuries. This looks like some conspiracy against tribal students,” he said adding, if anything happens to Behera, a statewide strike over the matter will be called.
