Fury over `faulty' teacher postings kills one

KOUSIK SEN , TT, 21 Sep 2018, Raiganj: Students of a school in North Dinajpur's Islampur on Thursday blocked two new teachers from joining over claims their postings were "faulty and against requirements", triggering a clash with police that left a former pupil dead.

The violence followed days of students' protests demanding Bengali medium teachers and not those of the Urdu medium or Sanskrit, like the two teachers, for the co-ed Daribhit High School, around 15km from Islampur town.

Rajesh Sarkar, 19, a resident who studies in an Industrial Training Institute and had joined the students along with other locals, took a bullet, his family and the local Trinamul MLA said. At least 11 oth- ers were injured in the clashes The police had not com- mented on the allegation till late on Thursday, saying merely that rubber bullets and tear has had been used to tackle the protesters.

The school had sought police to ensure the new teachers completed joining formalities, having apprehended trouble because of objections to their postings.

Sources said one of the new teachers -- one is from the Urdu medium while the other takes Sanskrit classes -- were recently posted by the state education department.

On Thursday, the protesters blocked the main entrance to the school and refused to move away when the policemen asked them to clear the way. As the cops tried to remove them forcibly, a section of the protesters allegedly at- tacked the police with bricks and stones.

At least four policemen suffered serious injuries, prompting the force to retaliate with teargas shells and rubber bullets. Rajesh was hit on his back and was rushed to Islampur sub-divisional hospital where doctors pronounced him dead. His family and Kanaialal Agarwala, the Trinamul MLA of Islampur, alleged the police had fired bullets.

"Blood was oozing from his back. We cannot it has been caused by a rubber bullet. The police seem to have fired live bullets during the clash," Agarwala said.

The students alleged that the police acted without provocation. "We do not have teachers of subjects like history and life science for many months. That is why we had demanded that Bengali-medium teachers of these subjects should be sent in our school. Instead, a teacher of Urdu-medium and a Sanskrit teacher were posted. We objected to it and launched the protests," said Rehana Parveen, a Class IX student.

The students also claimed there is no student in the school who studies in Urdu medium. "We do not need the teacher in our school. The teacher should be posted in a school where classes are held in Urdu-medium," they said.

Asked about the maater, headmaster Abhijit Kundu said the new teachers were sent by state education department. "We have nothing to comment. We had only tried to ensure that these teachers finish their joining formalities." Rabindranath Mondal, the district inspector of schools (secondary), held the school responsible. "The department sends teachers to schools not on its own but on the basis of requisition put by schools. In this case, it must have been the school that had sought teachers of Urdu medium and Sanskrit from us, which is why, we had forwarded the requisi- tion and accordingly, the teachers have been posted," Mondal said.

On being told that the students have claimed that there is no student in Urdu medium at the school, he said: "It might have happened that the number of such students who studies in Urdu medium has come down. But as per official records, it is a bilingual school with both Bengali and Urdu mediums." Additional police forces have been posted in the area to prevent further breach of peace. "Officials have been asked to visit the spot and submit a report to us. We have information about a clash among students and the police force," said Arvind Kumar Meena, DM, North Dinajpur.

The BJP has called a 12-hour bandh in the district on Friday against the violence..