Meeting inconclusive about St. Margaret’s Home dispute

SNS, Kurseong, 16 July 2013: The tripartite meeting called by the Kurseong SDO over St. Margaret’s Home’s issue concluded without any decision. 

The meeting was held at the Kurseong Sub-divisional office, in which the representatives of the Daughters of the Cross, Janmukti Secondary Teachers Organisation, including the representatives of the Vidhyarthi Morcha and the Kurseong SDO Mr RK Jha were present. All the representatives voiced their opinions and problems in the meeting, which lasted for two hours. 

The SDO, Mr RK Jha, said the follow up of the meeting will be continued tomorrow. St. Margaret’s Home is a 114-year-old charity home in Kurseong, where many poor, helpless and orphan children get a home and education under the guidance of the Daughters of the Cross. Recently, the home was closed by the concerned authorities and all the children were shifted to other homes. 

However, the authorities of the shelter claim that the home has been shutdown for construction reasons. 

Due to the shutdown of St Margaret’s Home, several school students have been handed over transfer certificates in the middle of the year by the school authorities, run by the Daughters of the Cross, and reports say that they have been directed to study in other schools. 

Protesting against this, the Janmukti Secondary Teachers Organisation in association with the Vidhyarthi Morcha filed a complaint with Kurseong police station and other concerned departments, saying the Right to Education Act 2010 was violated by the school authorities. They demanded all the children should be taken back to the school.