Patna district magistrate Sanjay Kumar Singh (extreme right) at the janata darbar on Thursday. Picture by Deepak Kumar

Patna, June 2: Three women observers of anganwadi kendras got a hint of their inefficiency to teach children at the district magistrate’s janata darbar today.

Meena Devi, Anupama Kumari and Sunaina Devi, the three sevikas (women observers) from anganwadi kendras would not have imagined that they would have to recite poems in front of district magistrate Sanjay Kumar Singh to save their job. These sevikas had visited the darbar to complain against their removal from the post of women observers by the district programme officer (DPO), Phulwarisharif and wanted to be reinstated to the post, to earn a livelihood.

As soon as they handed over their complaint, Sanjay asked Sunaina her job profile and the number of children in that particular anganwadi kendra. She replied: “There are 90 children in my kendra and for the past 12 years I have been working in this field but without any reason I have been removed from my post.”

Sanjay asked: “What do you do in the kendra apart from taking care of children and feeding them?” To that Suniana replied: “Sir, I teach them poems and arithmetic.”

Sanjay then said: “Fine, then recite some poems that you recite in the anganwadi.”

For a few moment, Sunaina was surprised to hear this and kept staring at the district magistrate. Sanjay again asked her: “What happened?You are the sevika of an anganwadi you must be knowing many poems. Now recite one.” After taking some time, Sunaina recited a few lines from a poem: “Lal tamatar lal tamatar (Red tomato, red tomato).”

After listening to her, Sanjay again asked: “Recite some more, you are doing this job for the past 12 years and you know just one poem? Recite another one.” To this, she said: “I know many poems but I have forgotten them.” On hearing this, Sanjay said: “What kind of a sevika are you? What do you teach the children and how could you forget the poems that you are reciting for 12 years?

After listening to all the three women, Sanjay said: “I will probe into the matter. But all of you ask yourself whether you have done justice to the children in your kendra.”

When The Telegraph asked Sanjay why he asked the sevikas to recite poems, he said: “I was checking whether they deserve their post.” Sunaina, on the other hand, said: “We never thought we will be asked to recite poems in the darbar otherwise we would have memorised a few before coming.”