The Buxi Jagabandhu English Medium School in Bhubaneswar. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, March 30: The school and mass education department has constituted an 11-member committee to probe the allegations put forth by the parents’ association of the premier Buxi Jagabandhu English Medium School.

The committee, which constitute of five teachers, five parents and the school principal J.K. Mohanty, will submit its report by April 10, school and mass education secretary, Aparajita Sarangi, said after a public hearing.

The BJEM Parents’ Association has blamed the school authorities for mismanagement and irregularities.

The parents have accused the school authorities of misusing school funds and of not paying salary to the teaching staff.

“The fees paid by the students is being used for funding a society and constructing another school. Meanwhile, the paltry salary has led to the discontentment among teachers and they have refused to cooperate with the principal,” said association secretary Samanta Jyoti Ranjan Mohapatra.

It has been reported that the school has not published the annual examination results yet. “Results are not being published and answer sheets are not being shown to the parents.

“They are playing with the career of our students. We have a right to know how our children have performed,” Mohapatra added.

“The management has been taking Rs 10,000 as capitation fees from new students without giving a proper receipt. Also, despite collecting special fee, no annual function is taking place for the past two years,” said working president of the association Amresh Jena.

The association has demanded refund of capitation fee and formation of parents’ representative for the smooth management of the school.

The rift between the two groups began in 2009 following an untimely hike in tuition fees by the school management. The fee was raised by 75 per cent, inviting strong resentment from parents. School authorities claimed that after implementation of the sixth pay commission, they had to pay more to both the teaching and non-teaching staff.

The then school and mass education minister, Sanjeev Kumar Sahoo, said private schools could not hike fees without consulting the government and parents. He had instructed the school authorities to follow fee structure as per the guidelines of the department and also to disburse monthly salary through bank cheque or draft to maintain transparency.

However, the school authorities continued to argue that the hike was essential to meet the additional burden arising out of pay hike of teachers.