2 schoolgirls give birth

Risingbd Desk: Two minor schoolgirls staying at an Indian government-run hostels gave birth within the last fortnight in Odisha.

A Class VI student of Umuri Ashram School (state-run residential school for SC and ST students) in Koraput district delivered a boy on February 4. It happened 12 days after a Class X student of another similar school in Kandhamal district gave birth to a boy.

In both the cases school authorities were accused of trying to hush up the matter and failing to provide minimum healthcare facilities to them.

On Sunday, police arrested the headmaster and the hostel superintendent of Umuri Ashram School for negligence of duty. “Headmaster Kailash Charan Brahma and hostel superintendent Sabita Guru were arrested. They will be produced in court on Monday,” said SDPO (Jeypore) Rajendra Senapati.

It came to light after Koraput collector Yamini Sarangi received a complaint on Saturday evening and ordered a probe. According to the headmaster, the 12 year-old girl`s father is a daily-wage labourer. She joined the school last year.

“We came to know about her pregnancy on February 3 after she informed us in writing. She said one of her relatives was the father of her child,” Brahma said.

“On February 4 late night, the girl ran to the woman cook-cum-attendant’s room inside the hostel premises with labour pain and delivered. Our staff took her home.” School authorities said the girl went home on leave from December 23 to January 13 and there was no visible sign of pregnancy.

Situated at a distance of about 30 km from Koraput, the Umuri Ashram School has 570 students from classes from I to VII. Around 300 students including 150 girls live in the hostel.

The Class X girl in Kandhamal too gave birth in her hostel. Police on Saturday arrested a man, Sukanta Pradhan alias Tuna (24), who allegedly made her pregnant, said SP (Kandhamal) KV Singh.

Pradhan allegedly raped the girl in May 2014 when she had gone to one of her relatives` house at his village. The government has disengaged two contractual teachers, Sasmita Parida and Namita Pradhan, suspended headmistress Ashalata Pati and removed the auxiliary nurse midwife SB Pradhan entrusted to see the health of students.

The two incidents have forced the government to go on damage control mode. “Disciplinary proceedings against the erring teachers have been initiated. The larger issue, however, is lack of awareness among our teachers to deal with such situations. It seems they are unaware that in such cases they should immediately inform police and provide medical care to the girls. We will impart training to teachers to handle such situations,” said ST & SC secretary Surendra Kumar.

Source: Times of India

Risingbd/Feb 9, 2015/Mukul