Jagatsinghpur: More than 4000 fake admissions of students have been found in primary schools of eight blocks in Odisha’s Jagatsinghpur.
According to a report by TNIE, around 799 ghost students were reported from Jagatsinghpur block followed by 605 from Tirtol, 492 in Balikuda, 387 from Naugaon, 222 in Biridi, 284 in Erasama and 378 in Kujang among others.
The enrollment of fake students in about 486 schools out of the 1,556 primary schools of the district was also revealed. However, these students who were shown to be availing of the MDM every day, had never even attended school as most of them did not exist and some were studying elsewhere.
Reports of many school headmasters being involved in the fake admission of students have come to the fore.
The schools have allegedly manipulated the students’ strength in order to misuse supplies obtained for the mid-day meal (MDM) scheme, distribution of dress materials, study materials and other benefits.
The locals have demanded strict action against the staff involved.
District education officer-cum-project officer of Samagra Sikhsha, Niranjan Behera has directed all block education officers (BEO) to identify the fake admissions.
