Team Herald
PANJIM: Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Thursday said that instructions have been given to the Directorate of Education to reinstate the government primary school headmistress, who was transferred from Cumbharjua school even as he expressed his dismay over parents and students of the primary school for protesting at the Azad Maidan.
After six days protest outside the school, the students along with their parents on Thursday marched to the Azad Maidan demanding that the efficient headmistress be brought back to the school. They alleged that she was transferred at the behest of the local MLA Rajesh Phaldesai, who however denied charges levelled against him.
The parents alleged that the headmistress Mangala Gawade, who was teaching in the government primary school for the last eight years and was transferred without giving any notice. The headmistress was transferred by sending her a Whatspp message and told her to join a government primary school in Ponda taluka and reside within a radius of three kilometres of her new posting.
“This was injustice to headmistress who hails from Cumbarjua village. She served the school with dedication and pleaded with parents to enrol their children as the enrolment was dropping. Today because of her initiative, the school had 41 students from class I to IV,” they said.
The protesting parents alleged that the headmistress was transferred under pressure from the local MLA in retaliation for her accepting LED TV for the school donated by a social worker.
The Chief Minister lamented that it was wrong on part of parents to bring children to Azad Maidan, Panjim to protest by coming under the influence of NGOs. “I had told Director of Education to reinstate the headmistress and to conduct inquiry into the matter. I appeal to activists not to use children to further their political agenda. I also appeal to parents not to use their children in protest as it was sending wrong message.”
The Chief Minister said that inquiry against the headmistress will continue. The government will look into the decision taken by her by risking the lives of students, he said.